THE PRIVATE investigator at the centre of the News of the Worldphone-hacking scandal yesterday denied suggestions he acted without orders from the newspaper.
In a statement that could be seen as an oblique attack on Rebekah Brooks, former chief executive of News International, Glenn Mulcaire said he was "effectively employed" by News International (publishers of the News of the World) from 2002 as a private investigator and had not acted "unilaterally" when he intercepted voicemails. "As an employee he acted on the instructions of others," a statement issued by his lawyers said.
His comments came 24 hours after it emerged that Sara Payne, whose eight-year-old daughter, Sarah, was abducted and murdered in 2000, learned Mr Mulcaire may have targeted her phone.
Hours after his statement, Ms Payne made her first public comments, saying she was "very distressed and upset" details relating to her may have been found in Mr Mulcaire's files. "I can confirm reports that I was given a phone by the campaign team [for the News of the World's Sarah's Law campaign] and that my voicemail was only activated after my first aneurysm," she said. This relates to a report on Thursday that she had not turned on her voicemail on the phone until 2009, the year of her first aneurysm. She was given the phone in 2000.
In a statement that indicated she still appreciated her work on Sarah's Law with the News of the World, she said: "Notwithstanding the bad apples involved here, my faith remains solidly behind all the good people who have supported me over the last 11 years. I will never lose my faith in them. My way would be to challenge the bad apples head-on, learn from the facts of the matter, and be a proactive part of stopping this from happening again."
Ms Brooks said the allegations about Ms Payne were “abhorrent”, and it was “unthinkable” “anyone on the newspaper knew Sara or the campaign team were targeted by Mulcaire”.
The private investigator’s statement challenges News International’s central defence since Mr Mulcaire and Clive Goodman, the paper’s former royal editor, were jailed in 2007 for hacking into Prince William’s phone. The company claimed that one “rogue reporter” was responsible.
Mr Mulcaire’s statement said: “There were also occasions when he [Mulcaire] understood his instructions were from those who genuinely wished to assist in solving crimes. Any suggestion that he acted in such matters unilaterally is untrue. In the light of the ongoing police investigation, he cannot say any more.” His statement focuses attention back on News International executives, who face another grilling by MPs on the House of Commons culture select committee.
James Murdoch is likely to be summoned to appear before MPs for a second time after Colin Myler, the News of the World's former editor, and Tom Crone, the paper's former head of legal affairs, challenged his evidence to the committee on July 19th. Mr Crone and Mr Myler accused Mr Murdoch of being "mistaken" when he said he had no knowledge of an e-mail that implicated a member of the paper's staff in Mr Mulcaire's activities.
The pair said they had shown Mr Murdoch the so-called “for Neville” e-mail, which raised the possibility the paper’s former chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck knew about phone hacking at the time the BSkyB chairman approved payments to victims of phone hacking.
Committee chair John Whittingdale is expected to summon them next month. He would also be asking Mr Myler and Mr Crone to explain why they now think the “for Neville” e-mail is so significant after they played it down in July 2009.
“Tom Crone and Colin Myler . . . told us they had discovered no evidence suggesting that anybody else beyond Clive Goodman had been involved,” Mr Whittingdale said. “We are now told, we understand from the statement they issued to the media, that they had drawn James Murdoch’s attention to the significance of the ‘for Neville’ e-mail. It appeared, when they came before us, that they did not regard that it was significant. But clearly they are now suggesting it is.”
The committee is writing to Jon Chapman, former director of legal affairs at News International, who challenged Rupert Murdoch’s claim he had a copy of a report “for a number of years” which showed evidence of illegality.
Mr Chapman said he did not have responsibility for dealing with allegations about phone hacking. – ( Guardianservice)