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| No further action on UK media phone hacking, chief prosecutor says | |
| (34 minutes later) | |
| There is to be no further action taken against journalists accused of phone hacking, the Crown Prosecution Service has said after finding insufficient evidence to bring corporate charges against News UK and criminal cases against 10 Mirror employees. | There is to be no further action taken against journalists accused of phone hacking, the Crown Prosecution Service has said after finding insufficient evidence to bring corporate charges against News UK and criminal cases against 10 Mirror employees. |
| The CPS announced the conclusion of police operations Weeting and Golding on Friday, following its review of evidence amassed in the controversial investigation of journalists acccused of hacking at newspapers for the two media companies. | The CPS announced the conclusion of police operations Weeting and Golding on Friday, following its review of evidence amassed in the controversial investigation of journalists acccused of hacking at newspapers for the two media companies. |
| “After a thorough analysis, we have decided there is insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of a conviction and therefore no further action will be taken in any of these cases,” said Alison Saunders, the director of public prosecutions at the CPS. | “After a thorough analysis, we have decided there is insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of a conviction and therefore no further action will be taken in any of these cases,” said Alison Saunders, the director of public prosecutions at the CPS. |
| “There has been considerable public concern about phone hacking and invasion of privacy. Over the past three years, we have brought 12 prosecutions and secured nine convictions for these serious offences. These decisions bring the CPS’s involvement in current investigations into phone hacking to a close.” | “There has been considerable public concern about phone hacking and invasion of privacy. Over the past three years, we have brought 12 prosecutions and secured nine convictions for these serious offences. These decisions bring the CPS’s involvement in current investigations into phone hacking to a close.” |
| The Metropolitan police have worked for several years on the two operations, looking into alleged phone hacking at Trinity Mirror and News UK, at significant public cost. | The Metropolitan police have worked for several years on the two operations, looking into alleged phone hacking at Trinity Mirror and News UK, at significant public cost. |
| Writing on Twitter, the former Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan, who was interviewed under caution twice, said: “I’ve today been informed by CPS that no further action will be taken against me re: Met Police phone hacking investigation. | Writing on Twitter, the former Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan, who was interviewed under caution twice, said: “I’ve today been informed by CPS that no further action will be taken against me re: Met Police phone hacking investigation. |
| “As I’ve said since the investigation began four years ago, I’ve never hacked a phone and nor have I ever told anybody to hack a phone. Thanks to all my family & friends, and kind people on here, for all their support. It was greatly appreciated.” | “As I’ve said since the investigation began four years ago, I’ve never hacked a phone and nor have I ever told anybody to hack a phone. Thanks to all my family & friends, and kind people on here, for all their support. It was greatly appreciated.” |
| I'm now going to get spectacularly drunk. Happy Christmas. | |
| The CPS has been investigating allegations of phone hacking at Mirror Group Newspapers, the publisher of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People, for the last three years.Those arrested during the investigation included former Sunday Mirror editor Tina Weaver, who was seven months pregnant at the time, former Sunday People editor James Scott, ex-deputy Sunday People editor Nick Buckley, and former People editor Mark Thomas.Police also questioned the former Daily Mirror editor Richard Wallace under caution as part of Operation Weeting. He was deputy editor of the Sunday Mirror between 2003 and 2004, before becoming editor of the Daily Mirror until 2012. | |
| The investigation resulted in no charges after a review of “a number of strands of evidence”, the CPS said, adding that “scrutiny of suspicious call data” had been a significant deciding factor. | |
| “The call data showed a regular pattern of two calls being placed to the same number (double tapping) and also a large number of calls placed to voicemail platform numbers,” their statement said. “However, it is not possible to prove the fact that the ‘double taps’ and calls to voicemail platform numbers are definitely instances of phone hacking. | |
| “In addition, it was common practice at Mirror Group Newspapers for journalists to use one another’s telephones, and so it is not possible to determine which individuals were responsible for making specific calls.” | |
| Operation Weeting, the investigation into corporate liability for phone hacking at News UK, the publisher of the Times and the Sun newspapers formerly known as News Group Newspapers, resulted in a dossier of evidence being passed to the CPS in July this year. | |
| “Potential charges for phone hacking and perverting the course of justice were considered,” the service said. “After thorough analysis of the evidence, it has been decided that no further action will be taken for either charge.” | |
| There is no evidence to suggest that any member of the board of News UK had knowledge of phone hacking when it was taking place, the CPS said. | |
| “Knowledge gleaned after the fact is not sufficient,” it added. “An individual was paid significant sums of money over many years by NGN for phone hacking, but there is no evidence that anyone on the board knew that the money paid was because phone hacking was taking place. Therefore, there is no senior officer of the company through whom corporate criminal liability could be established.” | |
| Allegations of perverting the course of justice were considered in relation to the company’s actions from April 2006, when the first arrests for phone hacking were made, until April 2011, when it admitted liability in civil proceedings. | |
| The CPS said: “We have reviewed the evidence in relation to the News of the World employees’ conduct during the original police phone-hacking investigation and concluded that there is nothing that these employees could have done which would have altered or affected the resulting prosecution. Therefore the company cannot be said to have perverted the course of justice.” | |
| The fact that the group decided to settle rather than resist civil proceedings “cannot be considered to be actions which could pervert the course of justice”, the CPS said. | |
| An email deletion policy was also examined but it was found that there were “legitimate reasons for companies to have an email deletion policy … In this case, there is no evidence to suggest that email deletion was undertaken in order to pervert the course of justice.” |