Tory relief as police say No to new phone tap inquiry

Published on Thursday 9 July 2009 22:00

DAVID Cameron's decision to stand by a controversial spin doctor looked to be vindicated last night, when police refused to reopen an investigation into illegal phone-tapping.

The Tory leader had faced the prospect of a massive blow to his credibility when his director of communications, Andy Coulson, a former editor of the News of the World, was linked to claims that the paper had used phone-tapping on a huge scale.

This was said to have involved accessing mobile phone voicemail messages of up to 3,000 prominent people, such as former deputy prime minister John Prescott, Olympics minister Tessa Jowell, London mayor Boris Johnson, TV cook Nigella Lawson, singer George Michael and actress Gwyneth Paltrow.

But the Metropolitan Police announced yesterday that it was not reopening a case that resulted in the jailing in January 2007 of News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman and a private detective he had employed to obtain confidential information about Prince William.

Mr Coulson quit as editor at the time, saying he had "ultimate responsibility".

Mr Cameron had faced calls in the Commons to sack Mr Coulson, who was appointed his communications chief in June 2007 and is regarded as one of his key aides. Mr Prescott and former home secretary Charles Clarke were among those who demanded he be axed.

This followed revelations yesterday that News Group Newspapers – the owner of the News of the World – had paid more than 1 million to prevent cases coming to court that would have revealed the scale of illegal phone tapping at the paper and its sister title, the Sun.

The allegations led to an emergency statement in the Commons and a statement by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, in Italy for the G8 summit, who said: "There are questions that have to be answered."

But shortly after 5pm, John Yates, the Met's assistant commissioner, said the 2007 case was not being reopened.

In a carefully worded statement, he said: "No additional evidence has come to light since this case has concluded. I therefore consider that no further investigation is required."

He said the initial investigation had found a "sophisticated and wide-ranging conspiracy", with hundreds of potential eavesdropping targets, but police had been able to prove "only a few" people had been victims of phone-tapping. There was "no evidence" to suggest Mr Prescott's phone had been tapped.

Mr Yates went on: "However, I do recognise the very real concerns, expressed today by a number of people who believe that their privacy may have been intruded upon.

"I therefore need to ensure we have been diligent, reasonable and sensible, and taken all proper steps to ensure where we have evidence that people have been the subject of any form of phone-tapping, or that there is any suspicion that they might have been, that they have been informed."

Nevertheless, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) ordered a review of the evidence that had been supplied to it by police.

MPs on the Commons culture committee also announced the reopening of an investigation into phone-tapping, with Mr Coulson's old boss, Les Hinton, due to appear next week. Mr Coulson could also be called.

All day, Mr Cameron had stood by his communications chief, saying he believed in "giving people a second chance".

Mr Coulson has always denied knowledge of the actions of his former reporter Goodman.

Keir Starmer, QC, Director of Public Prosecutions, said: "In the light of the fresh allegations that have been made, some preliminary inquiries have been undertaken and I have now ordered an urgent examination of the material that was supplied to the CPS by the police three years ago.

"I am taking this action to satisfy myself and assure the public appropriate actions were taken in relation to that material."

There were also calls for the matter to be taken out of the Met's hands. Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said a full-scale inquiry should be conducted independently of the Met.

This was necessary amid allegations that the Met and the CPS had not acted in other cases, for fear of upsetting major media organisations.

He said: "An independent inquiry by either the Independent Police Complaints Commission or another police force would be more appropriate than a further investigation by the Met.

"Why did prosecutions not take place? Why were the victims of tapping not informed? These are matters the Metropolitan Police must answer."

Mr Cameron said: "It's wrong for newspapers to breach people's privacy with no justification. That is why Andy Coulson resigned as editor of the News of the World two and a half years ago. Of course, I knew about that resignation before offering him the job. But I believe in giving people a second chance.

"As director of communications for the Conservatives, he does an excellent job in a proper, upright way at all times."

The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) said it would investigate any suggestions of "further transgressions" since its 2007 inquiry into the use of subterfuge by journalists.

"The PCC has previously made clear that it finds the practice of phone message tapping deplorable," it said.

Read Ross Lydall's analysis here

Trail began with hacking of royal phones

What is the basis of the row over phone-tapping?

The story has its roots in a court case that saw a journalist, Clive Goodman, and a private investigator, Glenn Mulcaire, jailed in early 2007 after hacking into the phones of three staff working for the Royal Family.

A series of stories about Prince William had been run in Mr Goodman's paper, the News of the World, based on information known only to a tiny number of people. This raised security concerns and prompted a police investigation. The new revelations suggested that the News of the World and its stablemate, The Sun, had been conducting illegal phone tapping on a massive scale, targeting between 2,000 to 3,000 prominent people.

Who were the alleged victims of the phone-tapping?

They ranged from John Prescott, the former deputy prime minister, to Gwyneth Paltrow, Nigella Lawson, Boris Johnson and Lenny Henry.

However, the Metropolitan Police said last night it had found no evidence that Mr Prescott's phone had been tapped.

Why are the latest revelations judged so controversial?

The new claims were based upon information used in several law suits but which had never previously been made public. The cases included a claim brought by Gordon Taylor, the former chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, who sued the News of the World's owners after claiming that senior newspaper executives must have known about the behaviour of Goodman and Mulcaire. It was only on Wednesday night that it emerged Mr Taylor had received 700,000 to agree to drop his case and sign a confidentiality clause. This is because there was thought to be evidence in the case showing that the paper was carrying out phone-tapping on a massive scale.

Does this have political ramifications?

Yes. The politician most at risk is David Cameron, the Tory leader. His current director of communications is Andy Coulson, who was News of the World editor at the time of the court case involving Goodman and Mulcaire. Mr Coulson resigned as editor on the same day that Goodman was sentenced to four months in prison, but maintained he had no knowledge of the illegal phone-tapping, which Goodman was said to have hidden from his bosses by falsifying claims to allow money to be paid to Mulcaire for information he used in stories. Mr Coulson merely said that he was resigning as he accepted the buck stopped with the editor.

Yesterday, Mr Cameron stood by Mr Coulson, in the face of demands from John Prescott and former Home Secretary Charles Clarke for him to be sacked. Mr Coulson is regarded as a key lieutenant in "Team Cameron", a major player able to understand the demands of the media.

Were the alleged victims aware that their phones were being tapped?

Apparently not. John Prescott said he was unaware. Others, such as Liberal Democrat MP Simon Hughes, who gave evidence in Goodman's trial, knew his phone had been tapped.

MPs demanded yesterday that the Metropolitan Police contact people thought to have had their phone tapped. But legal experts said there was no obligation on the police to do this.

The other revelation was that the secrecy deal on the Taylor case prevented the activities of another private investigator hired by other media from coming to light.

PHONE-TAPPING – HOW IT WORKS

IT IS the stuff of spy thrillers, but technology experts suggest that tapping a mobile phone is not as difficult as it may appear.

For the most uncomplicated approach, two things are required: the number of the phone itself, and the four-digit PIN code used to gain remote access to the phone's voicemail.

The alternatives are to listen in via the mobile phone company that connects the call – which would effectively require enlisting the help of a rogue employee – or seeking to use listening devices to track a conversation as it takes place.

The latter option is said to be the most costly and least likely to succeed as a result of the increasing complexity of mobile phones and the fact that voice messages are now transmitted digitally.

It requires the use of a mini gadget in the close vicinity of the phone, which fools the phone into thinking it is its "base station" from which signals are transferred.

Mobile users are able to retrieve their messages by dialling a number – normally the number of their phone – and then entering a personal security code. But the vast majority of users fail to protect their messages by neglecting to use a PIN code or by keeping it as an easily guessed number or the default factory setting – something like 1234.

However, as the Metropolitan Police's assistant commissioner , John Yates, suggested yesterday, the results are not guaranteed. While many attempts may have been made to access phone conversations or stored messages, only a few are successful, Mr Yates claimed.