Phone hacking ‘widely discussed’ at NoW editorial meetings

Extract of Clive Goodman’s letter to News International appealing against his dismissal for gross misconduct

“The decision is perverse in that the actions leading to this criminal charge were carried out with the full knowledge and support of (REDACTED) Payment for Glenn Mulcaire’s services was arranged by (REDACTED) The decision is inconsistent because (REDACTED) and other members of staff were carrying out the same illegal procedures…
This practice was widely discussed in the daily editorial conference until explicit reference to it was banned by the editor. As far as I am aware, no other member of staff has faced disciplinary action, much less dismissal….
(legal manager) Tom Crone and the editor promised on many occasions that I could come back to a job at the newspaper if I did not implicate the paper or any of its staff in my mitigation plea. I did not and expect the paper to honour its promise to me.”

The documents being released by the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee include a letter by Mr Goodman stating that the paper’s editor, Andy Coulson, later banned any further mention of the practice.

Amid continued questions about the extent of Mr Murdoch’s knowledge of the hacking, the Sunday tabloid’s former editor, Colin Myler, and ex-legal manager, Tom Crone, are to be asked to appear before the committee in September.

After a meeting of the committee’s MPs, a leading campaigner in the hacking investigation, Tom Watson, said: “We are trying to find out if Parliament was misled and all of us around the table were determined to do that.

“It starts with Colin Myler and Tom Crone, and it will be likely that we will take (James) Murdoch back.”

Increased pressure on PM

The letter was said to have been written by Mr Goodman in March 2007 in support of a claim he was making for wrongful dismissal from the paper.

“This practice was widely discussed in the daily editorial conference, until explicit reference to it was banned by the editor,” he wrote.

Previously, former News of the World staff Colin Myler and Tom Crone have contradicted James Murdoch’s claim that he did not know about an email that indicated more than one reporter at the News of the World knew about hacking.

Clive Goodman’s allegations – if true – are explosive: senior management at the News of the World not only knew about phone hacking, but it was openly discussed in editorial meetings.

It directly implicates former editors Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks and in turns puts greater pressure on the Prime Minister. In a statement, Downing Street told Channel 4 News: “It would be inappropriate for us to comment – there is an ongoing police investigation and we have set up a judicial inquiry to establish the facts.

“The Prime Minister has made his thoughts on Andy Coulson clear. He has said that ‘if it turns out I have been lied to, that would be the moment for a profound apology. And, in that event, I can tell you I will not fall short.’ ” Mr Cameron has already said he regrets hiring Mr Coulson.

Committee chairman John Whittingdale said: “There is the continuing difference in the accounts of James Murdoch and Tom Crone and Colin Myler about whether or not James Murdoch was aware of the so-called ‘for Neville’ email.”

Other questions that remained to be answered, Mr Whittingdale said, were about the settlement paid to hacking victim Gordon Taylor and “what influenced that”, the payment of private investigator Glenn Mulcaire’s legal fees and the size of the pay-off for Clive Goodman, the paper’s former royal editor who was convicted of hacking.