James Murdoch expected to provide evidence he did not mislead MPs

Former News of the World editor and lawyer claim that statement to select committee on phone hacking was ‘mistaken’ James Murdoch is expected to explain within the next 24 hours why he did not mislead a parliamentary select committee investigating phone hacking at the News of the World. He has until Thursday to reply to a list of detailed questions asked by the Commons culture, media and sport select committee, following allegations by the former editor and former head of legal affairs of the now defunct News International tabloid that one of his statements was “mistaken” . The former News of the World editor, Colin Myler, and the paper’s ex lawyer, Tom Crone, who alleged that Murdoch had misled the committee, will also be sending letters to MPs ahead of tomorrow’s deadline for supplementary evidence. The three letters, along with a fourth letter from the former overall head of legal affairs at News International, Jon Chapman, are expected to reopen the scandal over just who knew how widespread phone hacking was at the News of the World. “These letters are going to be dynamite,” said one source with knowledge of proceedings. The committee considers them so important that they are returning from their holidays to have a private meeting to discuss the new evidence on Tuesday. It is believed Murdoch has been asked a series of forensic questions in relation to payments to Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator formerly employed by the News of the World to hack voicemail messages. The committee want to know why Myler and Crone, who lost their jobs when the paper closed last month, publicly challenged Murdoch’s claim at the committee hearing that he knew nothing of an internal email providing evidence that more than one “rogue reporter” was involved phone-hacking . Murdoch has said he “stands by his testimony to the select committee” and Thursday’s letter is expected to provide evidence to back this claim up. Myler and Crone are, in effect, jointly accusing Murdoch of being part of the cover-up, one in which the company’s executives twisted and turned to conceal the truth about phone hacking and blame it on a single “rogue reporter”. Murdoch’s crucial claim to the committee was that although in 2008 he had personally agreed to a payout of £700,000 to hacking victim Gordon Taylor, he had done so in ignorance of the true facts. He said Crone and Myler had told him the payout was legally necessary. Murdoch, sitting alongside his father Rupert, claimed that Crone and Myler had concealed from him the crucial piece of evidence in the case: that an email had come to light with a voicemail hacking transcript, marked “for Neville”, allegedly a reference to Neville Thurlbeck, the News of the World’s chief reporter. The existence of this email, had it been made public at the time, would have exploded the “rogue reporter” defence and begun to implicate the rest of the NoW newsroom. John Whittingdale, chairman of the culture sport and media select committee, said after Myler and Crone issued their statement in July: “We as a committee regarded the ‘for Neville’ email as one of the most critical pieces of evidence in the whole inquiry. We will be asking James Murdoch to respond and ask him to clarify.” •

Posted by on August 10, 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.