Tuesday 6 September 2011

Phone hacking: Ex-news executives facing new questions

Tom Watson MP questions James Murdoch about whether he was aware of the "for Neville" email
Four ex-News International executives are facing a second round of questions from MPs examining phone hacking.
The Commons committee is quizzing former legal director Jon Chapman and human resources director Daniel Cloke.
Former News of the World editor Colin Myler and legal manager Tom Crone are also due to appear at 1130 BST.
Mr Crone and Mr Myler dispute claims by Rupert and James Murdoch that they were not told of an email suggesting hacking was widespread at the paper.
The discrepancy in their evidence hinges on a key document from April 2008 - known as the "for Neville" email.
When it was sent, the News of the World's royal editor Clive Goodman had already been jailed for hacking into phones of the royal household - a practice the paper insisted was not more widely used.
But the "for Neville" email is said to have implied that the NoW's chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck was also implicated in malpractices.
'More action' News International chairman James Murdoch told the culture committee earlier this year that he was not aware of the email when he approved an out-of-court settlement with Gordon Taylor, the Professional Footballers' Association chief executive, over the hacking of his phone.
But Mr Myler and Mr Crone later released a statement saying they did inform him of the email.
Culture committee chairman John Whittingdale said last month that after hearing more from the two men, MPs may well choose to recall Mr Murdoch to ask him further questions as well.
Labour MP Tom Watson, who has pursued the issue of phone hacking, has already called for Mr Murdoch to return.
But Mr Murdoch has said he "stands by his testimony" to the committee, in which he said: "If I knew then what we know now we would have taken more action around that and we would have taken more action to get to the bottom of these matters."
The Metropolitan Police's Operation Weeting is investigating claims of phone hacking at News of the World, which was shut down in July after it emerged that the phone of murder victim Milly Dowler had been hacked.

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