No further investigations into the phone tap scandal

No further investigation" will be conducted by police over claims that politicians and celebrities' phones were hacked into by a tabloid. Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner John Yates said police had seen no additional evidence since its last investigation and added there was no proof that ex-deputy prime minister John Prescott's phone was targeted. Mr Yates said: "No additional evidence has come to light since this case has concluded. I therefore consider that no further investigation is required. However, I do recognise the very real concerns, expressed today by a number of people, who believe that their privacy may have been intruded upon. "I therefore need to ensure that we have been diligent, reasonable and sensible, and taken all proper steps to ensure that where we have evidence that people have been the subject of any form of phone tapping, or that there is any suspicion that they might have been, that they have been informed." However, the Director of Publice Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, has now ordered an "urgent examination" of material provided by the police three years ago, saying he wants to reassure himself and the public that "appropriate actions" were taken. The Guardian reported MPs from all three parties, including Mr Prescott, were among the targets of the alleged phone taps, as well as stars such as model Elle MacPherson, actress Gwyneth Paltrow, PR guru Max Clifford, singer George Michael, TV chef Nigella Lawson, actor Jude Law and comic Lenny Henry. The paper claimed that News Group Newspapers - part of Rupert Murdoch's News International empire which publishes the Sunday tabloid - has paid out more than £1 million to settle cases that threatened to reveal evidence of its reporters' involvement in telephone hacking. News Group has denied all knowledge of the bugging, but last year Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, sued them on the basis that they must have known about it and received £700,000 in an out-of-court settlement. Earlier, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the allegations "raise questions that are serious and will obviously have to be answered". And MP John Whittingdale, Tory chair of the cross-party Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, said it plans to reopen an inquiry it held after the NOTW's royal editor, Clive Goodman, was jailed for using illegal surveillance techniques. Mr Whittingdale said it was "highly likely" ex-NOTW editor Andy Coulson would be called to give evidence by the influential committee. Mr Coulson quit his newspaper job when Goodman was sentenced to four months in prison in January 2007 for plotting to hack into telephone messages belonging to royal aides. Mr Coulson's new job as Tory leader David Cameron's director of communications has prompted questions from Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs about his suitability for the role. But Mr Cameron defended him, saying: "It's wrong for newspapers to breach people's privacy with no justification. That is why Andy Coulson resigned as editor of the News of the World two-and-a-half years ago. "Of course I knew about that resignation before offering him the job. But I believe in giving people a second chance. As director of communications for the Conservatives, he does an excellent job in a proper, upright way at all times.

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ITN | July 9, 2009

Tags:. .tabloid. .keir. .sensible. .suspicion. .hacked