News of the World in Phone Hacking Scandal Again
About three years ago, News of the World was embroiled in an alleged phone hacking scandal, which led to the sacking of News of the World’s royal editor Clive Goodman and his subsequent incarceration after a court case. Both the Guardian and The New York Times now say that this was only the tip of an iceberg, leading to a call by former deputy PM John Prescott to call for reopening inquiries into the matter. He also said that he would take legal action to force the police to tell him if his phone had one of those hacked into.
According to the Guardian, reporters paid private investigators to hack into the phones of 2000-3000 people. Apparently, NoW paid £1 million in out of court settlements in three cases at that time, pointing to a cover-up operation. Among those who received money were Professional Footballers’ Association’s head, Gordon Taylor, who had his phone hacked and who received £700,000 in damages and court costs last year provided it was not made public.
Andy Coulson, director of communications for the Conservative party, was at that time editor of NoW. During investigations, Coulson had denied knowledge of any hacking on a large scale, laying blame only on Clive Goodman. Now that the payoffs have become public knowledge, it is likely that the case will be re-investigated.
Shadow home secretary Alan Johnson said he would have a relook at the papers from the time when he was the home secretary. Questions have been raised about the role of the police and even the High Court regarding the bugging operation information being suppressed. As expected, NoW denied all allegations of wrongdoing.