New evidence, new investigation?

It is a close ranks strategy that has – for the moment – failed. Desperate to protect its reputation, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation has spent four years arguing that any phone hacking at the News of the World was confined to the former royal editor Clive Goodman – and an out-of-control private investigator, Glenn Mulcaire. Only now has it to be forced to admit Ian Edmondson, the tabloid’s senior news executive, may have a case to answer. In suspending Edmondson after allegations that he ordered Mulcaire’s targeting of Sienna Miller, News Corp is hoping to pull off a high wire act. The publisher wants to gain credit for taking action while at the same time hoping that Edmondson does not have any awkward information to reveal, particularly about Andy Coulson, his former editor and now David Cameron spin-doctor. Many believe the practice of phone hacking was widespread across tabloid’s newspapers from the moment mobile phone voicemail was invented. – The Guardian

Police should investigate new accusations that a senior executive on the News of the World was involved in phone-hacking when the paper was edited by Andy Coulson, now David Cameron’s media chief, the Labour Party said on Thursday. The paper suspended assistant editor Ian Edmondson on Wednesday after a “serious allegation” was made about his professional conduct. Media reports said the suspension related to possible eavesdropping on the voicemail messages of actress Sienna Miller in 2005, raising fresh questions about the ethical practices of some of the paper’s journalists. Labour’s Home Affairs spokesman, Ed Balls, said the police had to re-examine whether illegal snooping took place and whether it had been sanctioned by more senior staff including Coulson. “I think the police need to put all the resources necessary into these new investigations which are happening because of disclosure by individuals who are bringing court cases,” Balls told BBC Radio. “As more information comes out it’s getting closer and closer to Mr Coulson,” he said. – Reuters

As MPs and victims of these crimes, we now ask you publicly: please would you answer these simple questions of fact? As the edifice of lies which has been allowed to shield these sordid events for so long begins truly to crumble, there will be as few places for the complicit to hide as for the criminal. Now is the time for you to establish the panel and set up a real investigation that you promised to consider. That way, there is the slight possibility that the non-metropolitan police and the judicial system may be able to emerge from the ruins of this democratic disaster with at least a scintilla of credibility. – Tom Watson, Labour Uncut

Police cuts risk crime rise

Criminals are less likely to get caught as police numbers are cut over the next few years, a think tank has warned. Civitas said falls in crime could be halted or reversed after this year’s 6% real terms cut to the national funding grant and 20% cut up to 2015. The report called 2011: The start of a great decade for criminals? said “a nation with fewer police is more likely to have a higher crime rate”. Ministers said deployment, not the size of a force, was what mattered. The report carried a comparison of the number of police officers and the number of recorded offences per 100,000 people in European countries showing that reducing police numbers could lead to higher crime rates. – BBC

The public will be at greater risk with an expected fall in officer numbers during the Government’s austerity drive, according to a study by Civitas. Police forces across the country are facing budget cuts of up to 20 per cent over the next four years which is likely to result in thousands of fewer officers and staff. The Home Office has insisted crime can still be reduce while police officer number decline and has pointed to examples around the world including New York. But an analysis of other countries by Civitas suggests crime is higher where there is fewer police. A comparison of the number of police officers and the number of recorded offences per 100,000 people in European countries showed “a nation with fewer police is more likely to have a higher crime rate”, it said. – Telegraph Read the rest of this entry »

Senior NOTW executive suspended over hacking allegations

A senior editor at News of the World has been suspended while investigations into allegations that he was involved in?continue?A senior editor at News of the World has been suspended while investigations phone-hacking in 2005, the newspaper said on Wednesday. People familiar with the situation said Ian Edmondson, head of news at the Sunday tabloid since that year, was suspended after being named in a High Court document as having commissioned a private detective to intercept voicemail messages of the actress Sienna Miller. His suspension once again shines a spotlight on a case that has put pressure on Mr Edmondson’s former editor, and the man who hired him, Andy Coulson, now director of communications for David Cameron. – FT

The suspension of Ian Edmondson by the News of the World raises obvious questions for the paper’s ultimate owner, Rupert Murdoch, for the prime minister and, perhaps most of all, for the Met police. Edmondson was hired, initially as associate news editor, by its then editor Andy Coulson – a man who now sits at David Cameron’s side. A suspension is not an admission of guilt, but if it is proved, either in court or during the course of the paper’s own investigation, that Edmondson obtained stories acquired by phone hacking, it will cast serious doubt on repeated assertions by Coulson – now No 10’s director of communications – that he knew nothing about the extent of the practice while he edited the paper. It is Scotland Yard, however, which may face the most difficult questions. When they first raided the office and home of private investigator Glenn Mulcaire in August 2006, police found transcripts of messages apparently obtained by hacking into mobile phones belonging to dozens of public figures. The court case that resulted from this involved only Mulcaire and the paper’s then royal editor, Clive Goodman. – The Guardian

The news agenda changes fast in tabloid journalism but Hackgate has been a story that refuses to go away. When the private investigator Glenn Mulcaire and the News of the World journalist Clive Goodman were jailed for conspiring to intercept the voicemails of members of the royal household, Wapping quickly closed ranks. The editor Andy Coulson was obliged to fall on his sword – while denying knowledge of illegality – and Goodman was condemned as a rogue operator. Mr Murdoch’s close henchman Les Hinton assured MPs that the affair had been dealt with and when, two years later, Mr Coulson – by now director of communications for David Cameron – appeared before a renewed parliamentary inquiry he seemed confident of being fireproof. “We did not use subterfuge of any kind unless there was a clear public interest in doing so,” he told MPs. When Scotland Yard concluded that, despite more allegations of hacking, there was nothing new to investigate, Wapping and Mr Coulson must again have concluded the affair was over. But after an election campaign in which the Conservatives were roundly supported by Mr Murdoch’s papers, a succession of further claimants against the News of the World has come forward. Sienna Miller, among others, seems determined to take her case to court, compelling Mulcaire to reveal his handlers and naming in court documents Ian Edmondson, once one of Coulson’s executives. Mr Edmondson is now suspended. But the story is unlikely to end there. – Independent

Tory rebels join with Labour over prison votes

The Coalition Government could be forced to water down controversial plans to allow prisoners to vote in elections as Conservative MPs prepare to join forces with Labour to sabotage the proposal. The threat of a Tory rebellion grew as ministers disclosed that 28,770 prisoners would be entitled to vote under their plans – including 5,991 convicted of violence against the person, 1,753 of sexual offences, 2,486 of robbery and 4,188 of burglary. Following a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights, ministers propose to lift the ban on votes for prisoners for those serving jail sentences of up to four years. Although David Cameron stressed he was doing so reluctantly, the Liberal Democrats have long argued that prisoners should not be denied the right to vote. Labour delayed a decision on implementing the Court’s ruling before last May’s election but is now ready to form an unlikely alliance with Tory MPs in an attempt to force a U-turn. More than 40 Tories are said to oppose the Government’s plan – potentially enough to defeat it with the backing of the Labour Opposition. – Independent Read the rest of this entry »