John Prescott accused of self-important ranting as phone-tap row deepens

Published on Saturday 18 September 2010 00:58

Lord Prescott has been accused of "ranting" and wasting public money after saying he would seek a judicial review into the News of the World phone-hacking row.

• Lord Prescott is seeking damanges Pic: PA

The Scotland Yard officer who oversaw the investigation into the affair yesterday launched a scathing attack on the former deputy prime minister, branding him "nothing special".

Earlier, the peer announced he would ask the courts to examine the Metropolitan Police's handling of the case, after the force refused to provide all the information it held relating to him.

Shadow foreign office minister Chris Bryant, former Met deputy assistant commissioner Brian Paddick and journalist Brendan Montague have also issued judicial review proceedings.

In a statement on his website, Lord Prescott said: "It has always been my intention to discover the truth behind this case and whether the Metropolitan Police fulfilled its duty to follow all the lines of evidence. It is my belief they didn't, and I hope the judicial review will finally reveal why justice not only wasn't done, but wasn't seen to be done."

• Background: Judicial review

Lord Prescott said he was asking the courts to declare that his human rights had been breached, and order the Met to disclose fully any information relating to his personal details. The peer is also seeking damages, which he said would be given to charity.

The News of the World's ex-royal editor, Clive Goodman, and private investigator, Glenn Mulcaire, were jailed in 2007 after accessing the voicemails of public figures.

The row was reignited earlier this month when another of the newspaper's former reporters, Sean Hoare, claimed editor Andy Coulson - now the Downing Street communications chief - had asked him to hack into messages. Mr Hoare was interviewed by detectives this week to establish whether he has any new evidence.

Mr Coulson has repeatedly denied any knowledge of such activities.

Former Met assistant commissioner Andy Hayman, who oversaw the original phone-hacking investigation, dismissed the chances of a judicial review finding anything new.

"We have to get real over this. This is just another episode of Lord Prescott's rants," he said.

"You know, he's nothing special, he was on a list, along with lots of other celebrities and well-known people, held by a journalist - and that's no different to a contact list that's being held by any other journalist, come to that.

"Now if - and it's been reviewed - if I have proved to be wrong, then I'll eat my words and face the music.

"But my understanding is, there is absolutely no evidence from that initial investigation of his phone being hacked, so why he thinks he is anything special, I do not know."

Responding to Mr Hayman's comments, Lord Prescott said: "This is not ranting.

This is a desire to uncover why the Metropolitan Police failed to notify the thousands of people targeted by Mulcaire and the News of the World, why they failed to follow the evidence and why they fundamentally failed to do their job."