- Hundreds of thousands of 'unhelpful' emails deleted and computers destroyed, court documents reveal
- Revelation is appalling timing for News International as it prepares to launch The Sun on Sunday this weekend
- IPCC launches investigation over allegations a senior Scotland Yard officer 'inappropriately' disclosed information to a News International executive
News of the World bosses ordered emails that could be used against them in court to be deleted to cover up phone hacking, leaked documents have revealed.
Hundreds of thousands of emails were deleted on 'nine separate occasions' while computers were destroyed and a senior executive ordered a staff member to remove all paper records connected to them.
The revelation couldn't come at a worse time for News International as the company gears up to launch The Sun on Sunday this weekend.
Phone-hacking victim Charlotte Church, pictured at the Leveson Inquiry, is thought to have accepted a deal worth £500,000. It was revealed today that News of the World bosses ordered the deletion of hundreds of thousands of 'unhelpful' emails
The family of Milly Dowler, 13, are said to have received a £3million payout over phone-hacking of the schoolgirl's mobile
The documents would have been used in any high court trials over the phone-hacking scandal.
But News Group Newspapers (NGN), publisher of News of the World, has set aside a £20million fund to settle phone hacking cases out of court.
In total, more than 50 cases have been settled, with the majority of victims receiving between £25,000 and £30,000.
Among the bigger payments, the family of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler are said to have received £3million, while it emerged yesterday that Charlotte Church is thought to have accepted a deal worth up to £500,000 - believed to be £180,000 in damages with the rest covering her legal costs.
The leaked court documents also revealed admissions that News Group Newspapers would have made if there had been any High Court trials - as well as individual staff statements about phone hacking.
The newspaper's royal reporter Clive Goodman, who was jailed for phone hacking in 2007, claimed during an internal employment hearing that 'all of the stories' he wrote in his final two years at the News of the World 'were based on phone hacking'.
The court papers also revealed that at least six News of the World journalists hacked phones themselves. The documents also allege that newspaper bosses created the 'Email Deletion Policy' in November 2009 despite being aware of pending civil claims over phone hacking from 2008 and having a legal obligation to 'preserve all relevant evidence'.
IPCC LAUNCHES ITS OWN INVESTIGATION
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has launched an investigation into allegations a senior Scotland Yard officer inappropriately passed information to a News International executive.
Investigators are examining contact between the officer and the executive during the original 2006 investigation into phone hacking at the News of the World.
The IPCC will look into whether the officer committed a criminal offence but added there is currently no evidence to suggest that any inappropriate payment was made.
IPCC deputy chair Deborah Glass said: 'In this case, the allegation of an inappropriate disclosure of information from an MPS (Metropolitan Police Service) officer to an executive at News International raises important issues of public confidence in the MPS. I believe it is right that we independently investigate this to determine if there was any wrongdoing.
'The Leveson Inquiry is, among other things, inquiring ‘into the way in which any relevant police force investigated allegations or evidence of unlawful conduct by persons within or connected with News International’. I will therefore be liaising with them on the extent to which the IPCC should explore the consequences of any inappropriate contact.'
Scotland Yard said it had decided not to suspend the officer, based within the force’s specialist operations branch, which is responsible for counter-terrorism.
Investigators are examining contact between the officer and the executive during the original 2006 investigation into phone hacking at the News of the World.
The IPCC will look into whether the officer committed a criminal offence but added there is currently no evidence to suggest that any inappropriate payment was made.
IPCC deputy chair Deborah Glass said: 'In this case, the allegation of an inappropriate disclosure of information from an MPS (Metropolitan Police Service) officer to an executive at News International raises important issues of public confidence in the MPS. I believe it is right that we independently investigate this to determine if there was any wrongdoing.
'The Leveson Inquiry is, among other things, inquiring ‘into the way in which any relevant police force investigated allegations or evidence of unlawful conduct by persons within or connected with News International’. I will therefore be liaising with them on the extent to which the IPCC should explore the consequences of any inappropriate contact.'
Scotland Yard said it had decided not to suspend the officer, based within the force’s specialist operations branch, which is responsible for counter-terrorism.
An unnamed senior executive at News Group Newspapers also repeatedly demanded progress reports on the strategy, asking on July 29, 2010: ‘How come we still haven’t done the email deletion policy discussed and approved six months ago?’
Further specific requests for emails to be deleted allegedly came after the company received a letter dated 6 September 6, 2010, from actress Sienna Miller’s legal team that demanded that all relevant documents and emails be preserved by Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers.
Three days later, on September 9, an employee in the technology department wrote: ‘If the deletion need [sic] to wait until tomorrow, then that is fine. There is a senior NI management requirement to delete this data as quickly as possible but it need to be done with commercial boundaries.’
The Daily Telegraph reported that the court document also contained a statement from News International’s chief information officer, Paul Cheesbrough, claiming that all emails on News International’s archive system up to September 2007 were deleted.
News Corporation's own MSC provided police with data that has led to two waves of arrests of nine senior reporters and editors.
Members of MSC searched through millions of emails, payments records and other documents for evidence that public officials may have been paid for information by journalists at News International, which also publishes The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times.
The Sun's associate editor Trevor Kavanagh, 69, took to the pages of his beleaguered newspaper to slap down the MSC team, which is seen as responsible for information that led to the arrest of nine top staff and three sources including an army officer, police officers and a civil servant.
He wrote in the full-page article that The Sun was 'not a swamp that needed draining' after a source close to the MSC had defended handing over the emails that led to the arrests by stating: 'we are draining the swamp'.
On February 11, police arrested deputy editor Geoff Webster, picture editor John Edwards, chief reporter John Kay, deputy news editor John Sturgis and chief foreign correspondent Nick Parker.
Head of news Chris Pharo, crime editor Mike Sullivan, executive editor Fergus Shanahan, an former managing editor Graham Dudman were previously arrested on January 28.
An MSC spokesman insisted Press freedom was not being compromised by its activities.
The last edition of the News of the World in July last year after the newspaper was closed over the phone hacking scandal
Miss Church was to become the first phone-hacking victim to take her case to trial next week but she will now attend the High Court on Monday to hear an apology read by legal representatives of NGN.
Five other cases from an original batch of 60 launched before last October will also be dealt with at the hearing - including those of footballer Ryan Giggs, former royal butler Paul Burrell and Crimewatch presenter Jacqui Hames.
But Mr Justice Vos, who is overseeing the proceedings, was told a second wave of 56 claims is in the pipeline.
More than 800 victims of phone hacking have been identified by Scotland Yard since it started investigating the phone-hacking scandal last year.
But the latest revelations and the possibility of further court cases down the line will be unwelcome news as the company tries to focus its attention on launching the Sun on Sunday.
Rupert Murdoch announced yesterday that his new Sunday red-top would be aggressively priced at 50p, half the cost of rival tabloids, and also announced a 17 per cent cut for the Saturday Sun to 50p.
A tabloid price war is expected to break out this weekend as the Sunday Mirror, People and the Daily Star Sunday slash their prices by at least 50 per cent to takethe cut-price Sunday edition of the Sun.
Since the announcement, Richard Desmond said the price of the Saturday edition of the Daily Star will be cut from £1.10 to 50p and the Daily Star Sunday from £1 to 50p while Trinity Mirror is also understood to be preparing a selective cut of 50 per cent for the Sunday Mirror and People in some regions.
News Group Newspapers declined to comment today.
A TIMELINE OF THE PHONE-HACKING INQUIRY SINCE THE FIRST ARREST IN 2007
2007: January 26 - The News of the World's royal editor, Clive Goodman, is jailed for four months and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire receives a six-month sentence after they admit intercepting voicemail messages on royal aides' phones. The paper's editor, Andy Coulson, resigns,2009: July 9 - The Guardian reports that the News of the World's publisher has paid over £1 million to settle cases that threatened to reveal evidence of its journalists' alleged involvement in phone hacking.
Scotland Yard says it will not be carrying out a new investigation into the allegations, but the Crown Prosecution Service announces a review of material provided by the police in 2006.
2010: February 24 - A Culture, Media and Sport Committee report finds no evidence that Mr Coulson knew phone hacking was taking place at the News of the World, but says it is 'inconceivable' that no-one apart from Goodman was aware of it.
May 11 - Mr Coulson becomes head of the new coalition Government's media operation after Mr Cameron enters 10 Downing Street as Prime Minister.
September 5 - The New York Times publishes an article which claims Mr Coulson knew his staff were carrying out illegal phone hacking. The story also raises questions about how vigorously Scotland Yard pursued the case.
2011: January 21 - Mr Coulson announces he is standing down as Downing Street communications chief, saying the claims about illegal eavesdropping under his editorship was making his job impossible.
January 26 - Scotland Yard launches a fresh inquiry into the phone hacking controversy, called Operation Weeting, after receiving 'significant new information' from News International, which publishes the News of the World.
April 8 - News International admits liability and apologises "unreservedly" to a number of public figures whose phones were hacked.
July 4 - The Guardian reports that the News of the World hacked the mobile phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler after she went missing in 2002.
July 6 - Mr Cameron announces a public inquiry into the scandal. Rupert Murdoch describes the phone hacking allegations as 'deplorable and unacceptable' but backs Rebekah Brooks to continue as News International chief executive.
July 7 - News International chairman James Murdoch announces he is closing the News of the World.
July 8 - Mr Coulson is arrested on suspicion of phone hacking and corruption and held for questioning before being released on bail.
July 14 - Former News of the World executive editor Neil Wallis is arrested on suspicion of phone hacking, putting Scotland Yard under pressure to explain why it employed him as a PR consultant in 2009-10.
July 15 - Mrs Brooks resigns as chief executive of News International and is arrested two days later on suspicion of phone hacking before being bailed.
July 18 - Scotland Yard Assistant Commissioner John Yates stands down following criticism of his handling of a review of the initial probe into phone hacking at the News of the World.
Former News of the World journalist and phone-hacking whistle-blower Sean Hoare is found dead at his home in Watford, Hertfordshire.
July 19 - Rupert and James Murdoch, along with Mrs Brooks, give evidence to the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee.
September 6 - The News of the World's former editor Colin Myler and ex-legal manager Tom Crone tell the Culture, Media and Sport Committee they informed James Murdoch in 2008 about an email that proved hacking went beyond a single 'rogue reporter' on the News of the World. Mr Murdoch denies their claim.
November 8 - The BBC reports that the News of the World paid private detective Derek Webb to spy on Prince William, the parents of Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe and a host of other high-profile individuals.
November 14 - The Leveson Inquiry, sitting at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, starts hearing evidence about the culture, practice and ethics of the British press.
December 12 - A lawyer for Scotland Yard tells the Leveson Inquiry it is 'unlikely' that News International journalists erased messages from Milly Dowler's phone three days after she went missing in 2002, contrary to the Guardian's original report in July.
2012: January 6 - Mrs Brooks's former personal assistant, Cheryl Carter, is arrested on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice and questioned before being released on bail.
January 19 - The High Court hears that dozens of celebrities and politicians, including Jude Law and Lord Prescott, have now settled damages claims over the News of the World phone hacking scandal.
January 23 - A report reveals a News of the World journalist told police in April 2002 that they got Milly Dowler's mobile phone number and pin from other schoolchildren.
January 26 - Former defence secretary Liam Fox said attempts were made to hack his phone, though not while he was a government minister, and says he has met with officers from Scotland Yard's hacking inquiry Operation Weeting
January 28 - Four former and current Sun journalists and a serving Metropolitan Police officer are arrested over alleged illegal police payments. Senior Sun employees Chris Pharo, 42, and Mike Sullivan along with former executives Fergus Shanahan, 57, and Graham Dudman, are detained by officers from Operation Elveden. They are later bailed.
February 2 - Labour MP Tom Watson says he has received a letter from Scotland Yard informing him that police are investigating allegations of email hacking at The Times, after the newspaper admitted one of its reporters tried to access a private account. The Times named Lancashire detective Richard Horton as the author of the award-winning NightJack blog in June 2009 after the High Court refused to grant him anonymity. Editor James Harding later told the Leveson Inquiry that one of his reporters - named as Patrick Foster - was issued with a formal written warning for professional misconduct for gaining unauthorised access to Mr Horton's email account.
February 7 - The Metropolitan Police force admits at the High Court that it failed to warn victims and potential victims of phone hacking at the time of its original investigation into the scandal.
February 8 - Steve Coogan and Paul Gascoigne are among 15 phone-hacking damages claims which settle close to trial. The payments mean 54 of the original 60 cases have been settled. Five more are due to be heard later, while singer Charlotte Church and her parents have refused to settle, paving the way for a landmark trial on February 27.
February 11 - Eight people, including five employees from The Sun, a serving member of the Armed Forces, a Ministry of Defence employee and a Surrey Police officer, are arrested in connection with the probe into inappropriate payments to police and public officials.
Police confirm Operation Elveden has widened to include the investigation of evidence uncovered in relation to suspected corruption involving public officials who are not police officers.
- Press Association
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