The man at the centre of the phone-hacking inquiry Neville Thurlbeck tells Channel 4 News James Murdoch was “seriously misled by senior executives on the News of the World”.
The man referred to in the now infamous “For Neville” email at the centre of the phone-hacking scandal has spoken exclusively to Channel 4 News Political Correspondent Michael Crick, insisting he will be “exonerated”.
In his on-camera statement he said: “I have told the police that while I fully understand and respect the reason for their request for me to give evidence for the Crown in return for possible immunity, it is my opinion that a detailed and forensic inquiry into my working methods will fully exonerate me.
The News of the World suppressed this dossier which led to two years’ of lingering suspicion which resulted in my arrest. Neville Thurlbeck
“On that basis, I will not be giving evidence for the Crown.
“I have compiled my own dossier in my defence.
“The News of the World suppressed this dossier which led to two years’ of lingering suspicion which resulted in my arrest. And by depriving News International of the dossier which cleared my name and incriminated others, it led to my unfair dismissal.”
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He added: “I was dismissed because I was erroneously named by Glenn Mulcaire as a person who had authorised him to hack the phones of an individual, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
“However, he did this in order to protect the real individual on the paper, his very good friend of many years’ standing.
“This will be resolved. As I have said before, the truth will out. My anger is not with News International but with the News of the World. And I will fight all the way to the High Court to clear my name. Finally, this dossier was not compiled to implicate others in a criminal inquiry. It was compiled to clear my name with News International.”
But Mr Thurlbeck said his dossier would not be “bad news” for James Murdoch, who answered questions in front of the Culture, Media and Sport select committee for a second time earlier.
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He told Channel 4 News: “”No, it will be good news in a way because it will back up his claim that he has been seriously misled by senior execs on News of the World.
“But it will be bad news in the sense that it will prove my case for unfair dismissal and will certainly cost News International the redundancy money which they owe me.”
It is Thurlbeck’s first public statement since the hacking scandal blew into a national storm over the summer.
He was arrested and bailed in April as part of the Metropolitan Police‘s Operation Weeting inquiry into alleged phone-hacking at the News of the World.