Leveson Inquiry: Piers Morgan's evidence called into question

Heather Mills yesterday denied playing Piers Morgan a telephone message from her former husband Sir Paul McCartney.

Heather Mills and Piers Morgan 

In a statement, the former Lady McCartney directly contradicted evidence which Mr Morgan gave to the Leveson Inquiry into journalistic standards.

She said she could "categorically state" she had "never ever" played Mr Morgan, the former editor of the Daily Mirror, "a tape of any kind, never mind a voice message from my ex-husband".

The statement undermined Mr Morgan’s bullish performance at the inquiry, which was further called into question by evidence from a former employee.

James Hipwell, who was convicted and jailed for share price manipulation, said Mr Morgan must have known about mobile phone hacking by journalists working for him as it was so commonplace.

He told Lord Justice Leveson’s inquiry that hacking was so widespread it was “a bog-standard journalistic tool”.

Hipwell, who was described during the hearing as “an acknowledged liar”, said he had seen showbusiness reporters for the paper hack phones “every day” to get stories and said Mr Morgan must have known about it.
He said: “Looking at his style of editorship, I would say it was very unlikely that he didn't know it was going on because there wasn't ever much he didn't know about.
“He took a very keen interest in the work of his journalists. Showbusiness is very close to his heart.”
He also disclosed that a colleague had attempted to hack the phone of Mr Morgan himself but he did not know if it had been successful.
Hipwell, who worked at the newspaper between 1998 and 2000, added: "The openness and frequency of their hacking activities gave me the impression that hacking was considered a bog-standard journalistic tool for getting information."
He said: "I don't think the illegality of it was ever even considered. It just seemed to be fair game, fair play, any means to get a story."
Mr Hipwell was given a six-month prison sentence in February 2006 for making nearly £41,000 by mentioning stocks in the Daily Mirror's City Slickers column and then selling them as values rose.
Mr Morgan, who hosts a chat show on the CNN network in the US, insisted on Tuesday that he had never listened to illegally obtained telephone messages while editor of either the Daily Mirror or the News of the World.
Instead, he suggested that a private message left by Sir Paul on his former wife Heather Mills’s voicemail, which was played to him and featured the musician singing We Can Work It Out, had been leaked by her.
When pressed by Robert Jay QC, the counsel to the inquiry, Mr Morgan refused to say when or where he heard the message because he wanted to protect a “source”.
The potentially damaging claims against Mr Morgan were among several related developments which took place yesterday.
Andy Coulson, David Cameron’s former director of communications and a former editor of the News of the World, lost his battle at the High Court to get News Group Newspapers, a News International subsidiary, to pay his legal fees over the phone hacking scandal.
However, Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator employed by the News of the World, won a similar action against NGN which means they must continue to pay his legal fees because they had wrongly terminated an agreement between them to do so.
In his ruling, Sir Andrew Morritt, the Chancellor of the High Court, said: “They are, as they always were, in it together."
The inquiry was adjourned until January 9.

Woman held over 'police bribery' in hacking probe

• A sign revolves outside Metropolitan Police headquarters at New Scotland Yard in London. Police investigating the phone-hacking scandal at Rupert Murdoch's News of the World have arrested a 37-year-old woman on suspicion of paying police for information, Scotland Yard says

Police investigating the phone-hacking scandal at Rupert Murdoch's News of the World arrested a 37-year-old woman Thursday on suspicion of paying police for information, Scotland Yard said.
London's Metropolitan Police detained the woman at 0615 GMT "on suspicion of committing offences involving making payments to police officers for information," it said in a statement.
"She was arrested at a residential address in Surrey (southwest of London) and has been taken to a south London police station where she remains in custody."
The force refused to identify her but a police source said she was not a police officer.
She is the seventh person to be arrested as part of an investigation into alleged bribery of police, called Operation Elveden, which was set up alongside a probe into allegations of phone hacking, Operation Weeting.
Police have arrested a string of people on suspicion of illegally accessing mobile phone voicemails, including Andy Coulson, a former News of the World editor and ex-communications director for Prime Minister David Cameron.
One person has also been detained as part of a police probe into newspapers' alleged computer hacking, Operation Tuleta.
Australian-born mogul Murdoch closed the News of the World in July after claims that phone hacking at Britain's top-selling weekly was widespread.
Its publisher, News International, insisted for a long time that the practice was limited to one "rogue reporter" -- royal editor Clive Goodman who was jailed alongside private investigator Glenn Mulcaire in 2007 for hacking.
But it has been forced to admit the practice went wider.
Police said at the weekend the final number of phone-hacking victims will be around 800, based largely on names found in Mulcaire's notes.

Milly Dowler voicemails 'may have automatically deleted'

 

Milly Dowler was abducted and murdered by Levi Bellfield in 2002

Milly Dowler's voicemail messages were "most likely" deleted automatically, says the Metropolitan Police.

The force told the Leveson Inquiry into media ethics it does not have evidence journalists deleted messages on the murdered schoolgirl's hacked phone.
Lawyers for the Dowler family say it is too early to say journalists did not delete messages
Lord Justice Leveson, head of the inquiry into media ethics, said he needed police to clarify events because the Met's statement was of significance.
The allegation that News of the World journalists deleted messages first appeared in the Guardian newspaper - and was a turning point in the hacking affair, contributing to the closure of the News of the World.
In a statement to the inquiry, Neil Garnham QC, for the Metropolitan Police, said detectives now thought that Milly Dowler's voicemails had been probably automatically deleted because they were more than 72 hours old by the time her parents had got through to her voicemail.
'False hope' Days after her disappearance, Milly's parents had a moment of false hope when they found they could leave messages on her phone, suggesting to them that their daughter had been picking up previous messages and had deleted them.
Mr Garnham said: "It is conceivable that News International journalists[other than private investigator Glen Mulcaire] deleted the voicemails, but the Metropolitan Police Service have no evidence to support that."
He said "most likely explanation" was that messages were automatically removed after 72 hours, and added that the network provider had confirmed that this was "a standard automatic function of that voicemail box system at the time".
"I can say from Metropolitan Police Service records that the Metropolitan Police did not tell the Dowlers that voicemails had been deleted, for the simple reason that they did not know of any such deletions," he added.
Mr Mulcaire has denied deleting messages.
Phone-hacking detectectives have now asked Surrey Police officers, who led the hunt for Milly Dowler in 2002, to give statements.
Confusion over events The Met's statement to the Leveson inquiry came after mounting confusion over exactly what News of the World journalists allegedly did when they accessed Milly Dowler's phone.
In an article on Saturday, the Guardian said new evidence had led police to conclude the News of the World was not responsible for the deletion of voicemails from Milly Dowler's mobile phone that had caused her parents to have false hopes that she was alive.
The News of the World reporters were likely to have inadvertently deleted some of Milly's other messages as her phone would automatically delete messages 72 hours after being listened to. That led some former journalists from the newspaper to demand an apology from the Guardian.
But David Sherborne, counsel for the victims of hacking including the Dowlers, questioned the Met's new statement, saying Surrey Police had the name of one journalist who had Milly Dowler's mobile number and pin.
Mr Sherborne said that there was evidence that someone had continued to access and delete voicemails over a number of days leading up to the false hope moment and that there were "only so many culprits".

Phone Hacking: confirmed victims 'total about 800', says police inquiry chief

The final number of victims who had their phones hacked by the News of the World is likely to be about 800, the head of the police inquiry has said.

Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers  

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers, who heads Operation Weeting, said that she was confident her officers had met all the alleged victims of the now defunct-newspaper.

The victims, she said, included those who either had, phone messages intercepted by the former Sunday tabloid or were likely to have been.

Mrs Akers, who is in charge of out 50 officers who are working on the Scotland Yard operation, said that as of Tuesday police had contact 803 people ranging from public figures such Wayne Rooney, the Manchester United footballer, and Sienna Miller, the British actress.

She told The Times that a further 1,200 people have contacted detectives but officers do not believe they have been hacked or are not named in the notebooks seized from Glenn Mulcaire, a private detective hired by the newspaper.

“We are confident we have personally contacted all the people who have been hacked or are likely to have been hacked,” she told the newspaper.

“But there is a raft of people still to be spoken to who are potential targets, but are unlikely to have been hacked.”
It also reported that the hacking investigation is seeking more resources to cope with the increased workload, which is working at break-neck speed.
The operation’s workload is increasing due to the success of identifying confirmed phone hacking victims.
The Metropolitan Police expects to spend up to £4 million a year on Operation Weeting and other investigations into computer hacking and bribing police officers.
Meanwhile an external review of Operation Weeting, led by Jon Stoddart, the Chief Constable of Durham, has been completed and is understood to have made 30 recommendations.
The three-month review, which was ordered by Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, is believed to be critical of some practices and processes, the paper said.
Operation Weeting was established in January this year and no one has been charged as yet as it approaches its first anniversary.

Phone Hacking: Prosecuting Papers 'Too Costly'

The former Information Commissioner has said he was glad he did not pursue prosecutions against journalists over phone hacking and other data theft because it would have "bogged down" his office for years.

Richard Thomas, who held the position from 2002 until 2009, told the Leveson Inquiry into media ethics he had never said the press was too big to tackle.

But Mr Thomas said he followed legal advice suggesting the cost and scale of taking on newspapers would have been vast.
The former Information Commissioner told the hearing that a legal counsel had warned him journalists would be like a "barrel load of monkeys".
They would, he was told, be well briefed and well prepared if questioned.
The inquiry heard the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) uncovered a "treasure trove" of evidence linking journalists to the trade in stolen personal information when its investigators raided the home of private investigator Steve Whittamore in March 2003.

It was serious but I don't want to give the impression it was earth-stopping.

Former Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas

Despite the recovery of this evidence, Mr Thomas eventually decided not to pursue prosecutions against individual journalists or newspapers, opting to raise the matter with the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) instead.
Whittamore was convicted in April 2005 of illegally accessing data, but the inquiry heard no journalist has ever been prosecuted as a result if the so-called Motorman investigation.
Mr Thomas said he had been aware of the seriousness of the material seized by the Motorman investigators but added that it was one of many issues on his radar at the time.
"Yes, very serious," he said. "But alongside many serious matters. I was dealing with a wide range of issues."
He added: "It was serious but I don't want to give the impression it was earth-stopping."
Mr Thomas said: "It indicated their suspicions had been vindicated and would lead to prosecutions in due course."
The inquiry, sitting before Lord Justice Leveson, was told that later legal advice had cautioned against prosecutions - both in terms of the cost financially and in manpower for a department Mr Thomas described as "under-resourced".
Mr Thomas said prosecution was only one of the considerations for the ICO when examining the illegal access of information.
Just as important, he said, was encouraging good practice, which was one of the reasons his department had decided to pursue that case through the PCC rather than the courts.

Bell Pottinger 'helped choose Rebekah Brooks' phone hacking arrest station'

Bell Pottinger Public Affairs executives helped Rebekah Brooks, the embattled former chief executive of News International, choose which police station she would like to be arrested in and questioned.

Rupert Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks pictured earlier this year. 

Senior members of the prominent public affairs company described to the undercover investigators how they helped the former tabloid editor in the days following her resignation.

Mrs Brooks, the former editor of the now-defunct News of the World and The Sun, was arrested and questioned after agreeing to attend a police station in July, a few days after she resigned from NI.

The 43 year-old, the tenth person arrested since the Metropolitan Police re-opened its phone-hacking probe in January, was the most high-profile News International figure to have been arrested so far.

She was arrested in relation to both the ongoing investigations into phone-hacking and alleged illegal payments to police officers. She was bailed and has not been charged.

David Wilson, chairman of Bell Pottinger Public Relations, and Tim Collins, managing director of Bell Pottinger Public Affairs, told investigators from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism how they tried to control Mrs Brooks' arrest.

The Independent reported that Mr Collins said Bell Pottinger’s advice had stretched to helping choose which police station she should be questioned at.
He said: “Dave (Wilson) was on the phone … ‘No, that nick’s not quite right, no no, that one’s got a car park, no that one’s down a tunnel’, and I thought he was on to some very dodgy part of the criminal underworld but in fact it was his brother-in-law who’s a police officer.”
Mr Wilson, who has acted as a spokesman for Ms Brooks since her resignation, said he had waited outside for her while she was questioned. “She’s been very open and honest and said, ‘I didn’t know a thing, didn’t know any of it’. She said that yesterday and to be honest I believe her.
"Sunday [I was] actually sitting in the front seat of a car in a side street round the back of a police station in a certain London borough waiting for 12 hours until she came out having been arrested and taking one call and having four waiting – it was quite interesting stuff.”
Meanwhile Bell Pottinger, who Mrs Brooks hired following her resignation, also claimed to “Uzbek business representatives” how they helped prepare her with evidence before she appeared before MPs in July.
"She spent all... morning in the room opposite this corridor while we were very rude to her to prepare her for the select committee," said Mr Collins.
"We were four hours in a waiting room adjacent to the committee room waiting to go in. She was really upset actually, in tears when Rupert got attacked because he is her mentor.
"He's almost like a father figure to her. I know there are stories about her in the past, I didn't know her too well in the past, so I won't comment on whether she was ruthless or whatever, I must say I see a very honorable, honest woman who's trying to fight to clear her name at the moment."
The executives also spoke in less than glowing terms about NI’s public relations strategy.
"Dave's the PR expert but the problem from our perspective is News International were making a lot of mistakes in the two weeks or so prior to [her resignation] and they've just started making fewer," Mr Collins said.
Last night Lord Bell, the chairman of Chime Communications which owns Bell Pottinger, was pictured arriving at his company’s office in Mayfair, central London. He did not comment.
Mrs Brooks was unavailable for comment on Tuesday and the firm has not commented on the revelations.
The disclosures came as David Cameron faced under growing pressure to introduce a register of lobbyists after claims Bell Pottinger have been able to influence him and senior Cabinet ministers.
Executives from the were secretly taped claiming to be able to directly influence the Prime Minister, his inner circle and other senior Government figures.
They claimed they were able to on behalf of private sector clients, including vacuum cleaner maker James Dyson.
David Cameron is under growing pressure to introduce a register of lobbyists after claims that staff at a prominent public affairs firm have been able to influence him and other members of his inner circle.
Labour called for the Cabinet secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell to investigate.
A presentation prepared by Bell Pottinger suggested the firm could get access to Foreign secretary William Hague, one of his advisers, and Alistair Burt, a foreign office minister, and would target as “a priority” Mark Prisk, a Business minister.
In a second set of revelations it emerged last night that Bell Pottinger claimed to have access to Vince Cable, the Business Secretary.
Undercover investigators from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism filmed executives saying that the best way to get to Mr Cable was to arrange meetings with his “special adviser”, Giles Wilkes.
The firm claimed that as a result of Bell Pottinger’s intervention, Mr Cable had visited a factory owned by car manufacturer Lotus, one of the firm’s clients that was looking for Government assistance.
Mr Collins added that one of Bell Pottinger’s staff, Stephen Lotinga, used to work for the Liberal Democrats and had close relationships with all of the party’s special advisers working in Government.
“Stephen Lotinga, my colleague, knows Giles [Wilkes] very well, he headed up the Liberal Democrat home policy unit until the time of the general election so all the people who went into government and became Liberal Democrat special advisers all worked for him up to and including the general election,” Mr Collins said.
“So he knows all of them, still talks to them socially. We actually took a client in to see Giles last week, last Thursday, so it’s not something that is difficult for us to do.”
Asked why they did not recommend going to Mr Cable and if it was because he was cantankerous, Mr Collins replied: “Yes. And Vince’s starting point on a lot of these issues is he will think about politics and the presentation first and substance second.”
Bell Pottinger also allegedly admitted that clients were advised not to donate money to political parties because it was “becoming counterproductive”.
Last night, a spokesman for the Business Secretary admitted that Mr Wilkes did know Mr Lotinga but said it was “not an especially close relationship”.
She categorically denied that Bell Pottinger had helped facilitate any meetings either with Mr Cable or Mr Wilkes, adding that the Lotus visit had not been facilitated by Bell Pottinger in any way.
The scandal involving Bell Pottinger is the latest in a series that has embarrassed the the Coalition, most notably one involving the access enjoyed by Adam Werritty to the former defence secretary Liam Fox.
The Alliance for Lobbying Transparency, a campaign group, last night called for the immediate introduction of a statutory register of lobbyists, to open up the industry to wider public scrutiny.
Tamasin Cave, a spokesman for the alliance, said: “Another month, another lobbying scandal involving this Government. The last led to the resignation of the Defence Secretary. This one leads straight to the Prime Minister.
“Just last year, David Cameron was warning us of a £2billion influence industry ‘out of control’. The situation under his leadership is undoubtedly worse.” That came as a survey of MPs showed a majority in favour of a statutory register.
Of 115 MPs questioned by Populus over the past four weeks, 62 per cent agreed that a statutory register would help the democratic process, compared with 13 per cent who said it would not.
But just 12 per cent said that public relations professionals were a “hindrance” to their work as MPs, compared with 57 per cent who said they were not. Forty-one of the MPs questioned said that occasions when they socialised with lobbyists were “an important part of an MP’s week”, against 33 who disagreed.
Mr Collins also reportedly claimed that Bell Pottinger had got Mr Cameron to raise the matter of copyright infringement with Chinese premier Wen Jiabao on behalf of electronics entrepreneur James Dyson.
Shadow Cabinet Office minister Jon Trickett increased the pressure on Mr Cameron by sending a series of questions to the Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O’Donnell, including whether Mr Cameron by any member of his staff to enquire about Bell Pottinger’s client with the Chinese.
Cabinet Office sources said that plans for a register could be published as soon as next month.
They were being held up by concerns about the definition of a lobbyist, including whether it included charities, and whether a register might prevent people from their democratic right to make representations to Government.
A Cabinet Office spokesman said: “The Government has repeatedly emphasised the commitment made in the coalition agreement to bring greater transparency to lobbying by establishing a statutory register. We plan to bring forward proposals in the coming weeks.”
However last night Lord Bell, the chairman of Chime Communications which owns Bell Pottinger, said that a statutory register would not do any good, adding that there was nothing in the claims that demonstrated “any improper behaviour”.
He told The Daily Telegraph that a register “patently” would not work, adding: “If you are trying to find misbehaviour – it occurs no matter what the rules are.
“If Number 10 say they weren’t influenced [over Dyson] then they weren’t influenced. If we think they were influenced, we are entitled to that view. I am a great supporter of the freedom of the press and a great believer in self-regulation. This story does nothing to enhance either argument.”
Mr Cameron’s spokesman said companies would do better to go through the official channels to speak to ministers and civil servants about their concerns.
He said: “It simply isn't true to say that Bell Pottinger or any other lobbying company has influenced Government policy. Clearly it is in their interests to tell their clients that they can provide them with a service and that is what they appear to be doing.
“The fact that the PM has spoken to the Chinese about the issue of intellectual property rights is unsurprising. He’s made very clear his support for British business and his desire to work to further our trade relationships.”
A Department for Business spokesman said: "Mark Prisk has had no dealings with Tim Collins since being appointed as a Minister. In line with the Government's transparency policy, all meetings that BIS ministers have are published on a monthly basis on our website."
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "Neither William Hague or Alistair Burt have had any meetings with Bell Pottinger in Government.
"To say that Bell Pottinger or indeed any other lobbying company has influenced government policy is simply untrue."

Glenn Mulcaire arrested over phone hacking scandal

Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator who worked for the News of the World, has been arrested by detectives investigating phone hacking at the former Sunday tabloid.

Officers from the Metropolitan Police’s Operation Weeting confirmed that a 41-year-old man was arrested at 7am on Wednesday morning and was questioned at a south London police station.

It is understood the man is Mr Mulcaire, a 41-year-old former professional footballer turned private investigator, who worked for the News of the World for about five years until 2006.

Police said he was held on suspicion of conspiracy to hack mobile phones and on suspicion of perverting the course of justice.

The arrest is the 16th in Operation Weeting although it is the first time that anyone has been arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice in connection with the investigation.

Mr Mulcaire’s solicitor Sarah Webb refused to comment on his arrest.

Neighbours said they saw activity at Mr Mulcaire’s home in Sutton, south London, early yesterday [WED] morning.
A neighbour said: “I heard something going on this morning just after 7am.
“I looked out the window and there was a car parked outside his house, just a normal car, it wasn't marked.
“It didn't know if he had been arrested. I didn't see him being brought out of the house because I just glanced out the window when I heard the noise and then went back inside.”
Mr Mulcaire, who was paid more than £100,000 a year while working for the News of the World, is alleged to have accessed voicemails on behalf of the newspaper in order to gain stories on celebrities.
He is being sued by a number of high profile individuals for breach of privacy.
Mr Mulcaire’s arrest comes just days before his case for breach of contract against News International is due to commence.
He is suing the company in an attempt to make them pay his legal bills.
In July News International announced that it would stop paying Mr Mulcaire’s legal bills with immediate effect.
It emerged earlier this year that the company had paid "approximately £246,000" to lawyers acting for Mulcaire.
Mr Mulcaire claims that the company had a contractual obligation to pay the legal bills. The case is listed to appear in the High Court next week.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “On 7 December 2011 officers from Operation Weeting arrested a man, 41, in connection with phone hacking and perverting the course of justice
“It would be inappropriate to discuss any further details at this time.”
The phone hacking investigation was launched in January following a series of allegations about the extent of hacking at the Sunday tabloid. Police are currently sifting through 300 million emails given to them by News International.It has cost more than £3 million.
The scandal has seen the News of the World closed down and has caused the resignations of two of Scotland Yard’s most senior officers – former commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson and John Yates, an ex assistant commissioner.
It also prompted the resignation of two former News of the World editors.
Andy Coulson, then the Prime Minister David Cameron’s spokesman, and Rebekah Brooks, the then News International chief executive, have stepped down and have both since been arrested.