News of the World parent group hit with phone-tapping claims
Britain's Guardian newspaper has claimed the publisher of the News of the World, News Group Newspapers, paid out more than £1m (€1.2m) to settle cases that threatened to reveal evidence of the group's journalists' alleged involvement in telephone hacking.
MPs including former deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and Cabinet minister Tessa Jowell were among the targets of the alleged phone taps, The Guardian said.
It quoted sources saying police officers found evidence of News Group staff using private investigators who had hacked into “thousands” of mobile phones.
Mr Prescott said he wanted answers from the police over the claims they knew his phone was tapped by private investigators working for journalists.
“I find it staggering that there could be a list known to the police of people who had their phone tapped.
“I’m named as one of them, for such a criminal act not to be reported to me, and for action not to be taken against the people who have done it, reflects very badly on the police, and I want to know their answer.”
The Guardian said Andy Coulson, Tory leader David Cameron’s director of communications, was deputy editor and then editor of the News of the World when journalists were using the private investigators.
Mr Coulson resigned from the News of the World after royal editor Clive Goodman was sentenced to four months in prison in January 2007 for plotting to hack into telephone messages belonging to royal aides.
The Guardian said the £1m (€1.2m) paid out by News Group to secure secrecy concerned three out-of-court settlements in cases that would have shown the alleged methods being used.
One of the settlements, totalling £700,000 (€810,000) in legal costs and damages, involved legal action brought by Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers Association, the newspaper said.
In the Goodman trial, Mr Taylor was revealed as one of the public figures whose phone messages were illegally intercepted by private investigator Glenn Mulcaire.
Mr Coulson said last night: “This story relates to an alleged payment made after I left the News of the World two and half years ago. I have no knowledge whatsoever of any settlement with Gordon Taylor.
“The Mulcaire case was investigated thoroughly by the police and by the Press Complaints Commission. I took full responsibility at the time for what happened on my watch but without my knowledge and resigned.”
PR agent Max Clifford is another whose phone was allegedly hacked into, according to the Guardian.
He said the claims raised “lots of serious questions”.
Mr Clifford – who works with some of Britain’s best known celebrities – told the BBC: “If these allegations prove to be true, then it’s something that an awful lot of people are going to very unhappy about.”
He also asked: “Why has this just come out? According to the Guardian, it’s come from police sources. If the police had this information, why didn’t they act on it?
“There are lots of questions that need to be answered, serious questions.”
A spokeswoman for News International, the parent company of News Group Newspapers, said: “News International feels it is inappropriate to comment at this time.”
