Glenn Mulcaire ordered to reveal who told him to hack phones

Steve Coogan leads battle to reveal whether News of the World ordered hacking of Elle MacPherson and five other public figures Glenn Muclaire, the private investigator at the centre of the News of the World phone hacking, has been ordered by a court to reveal who instructed him to access the voicemails of model Elle MacPherson and five other public figures including Lib Dem deputy leader Simon Hughes. Mulcaire is due to reveal these details by the end of next week in a move that will throw further light on the scale of phone hacking at the now defunct News International tabloid. The Guardian has learned that Mulcaire has lost an attempt to appeal against a court order obliging him to identify who instructed him to hack the phones, something he has resisted since February. Mulcaire, who was jailed in 2007 after pleading guilty to hacking the phones of members of the royal household for the News of the World, has been forced into making the disclosure following legal action by the comedian and actor Steve Coogan. In February, Coogan’s lawyers argued in court that if it were proved that the News of the World had instructed Mulcaire to hack into the phones of the six public figures, it would show that phone hacking was taking place at an industrial scale. Mulcaire must now name names in relation to MacPherson, Hughes and four others – the celebrity PR Max Clifford; the football agent Sky Andrew; Jo Armstrong, a legal adviser to the Professional Footballers Association; and Gordon Taylor, the former head of the PFA. At his trial in 2006 Muclaire also admitted hacking the phones of five of the six names in Coogan’s court order. Taylor was gagged by News International after reaching a £700,000 out-of-court settlement. Armstrong also settled with the paper out of court. “After six months of refusing to answer these questions I am pleased that Glenn Mulcaire has now finally been ordered to say who at the News of the World asked him to hack the mobile phones of Max Clifford, Sky Andrew, Gordon Taylor, Simon Hughes MP, Elle MacPherson and Jo Armstrong,” Coogan said. “Whilst I am pleased with this latest development I remain frustrated by Mr Mulcaire’s refusal to answer questions about who authorised him to unlawfully access my voicemail messages and will continue to press for these answers.” The latest developments are the second blow this week to News International. On Tuesday it emerged that NI’s head of human resources had been sent a letter by the News of the World’s former royal editor, Clive Goodman, alleging that phone hacking had been “widely discussed” in editorial meetings chaired by the paper’s former editor, Andy Coulson. Goodman was jailed at the same time as Mulcaire in early 2007 on the basis that he was the only News of the World journalist involved in intercepting mobile phone messages. Coulson has maintained that he was unaware of this activity at the News of the World when he was editor, while News International claimed phone hacking was the work of a single “rogue reporter” – Goodman – until December 2010. The high court ordered Mulcaire to reveal the names in relation to the six people and refused him leave to appeal against the order. Mulcaire went back to the court of appeal but on 1 August Lord Justice Toulson rejected his application for leave to appeal. Separately, Mulcaire is appealing against an order requesting him to name who ordered him to hack Coogan’s voicemail, and a court case is expected to be listed in October. That appeal may fall by the wayside because News International has stopped paying his legal fees. However, Mulcaire is now suing News International in an attempt to force the company to continue paying his legal bills. Coogan’s solicitor, John Kelly of Schillings, described Toulson’s decision to refuse Mulcaire leave to appeal as “a very significant development”. He said: “He will now have to identify exactly who at the News of the World asked him to access the mobile phones of the named individuals and who he provided the information to at the News of the World. Mr Mulcaire is due to provide these answers by the end of the month and we await his answers with interest.” Last month Coogan joined Hugh Grant at the vanguard of the campaign to force the News of the World’s publisher to come clean about the tactics employed by its journalists to get stories. Coogan, who has had his private life picked over by the tabloids, went on Newsnight to express how thrilled he was that the News of the World had been closed down. •

Posted by on August 19, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.