Today, Lord Justice Leveson, the man heading a judicial review into the issue, heard applications from people and organizations seeking answers to allegations that their phones were hacked. Petitioners include Formula 1 boss Max Mosley, former deputy prime minister Lord Prescott, and actors Jude Law and Hugh Grant.
Trouble for James Murdoch came today at a hearing in front of the House of Commons Culture, Media, and Sport Select Committee. It was there that Tom Crone, ex-legal manager from NotW, said he was "certain" he told Murdoch about an e-mail that suggested phone hacking was more widespread than first claimed. Colin Myler, the tabloid's last editor, supported Mr. Crone's testimony, saying that the e-mail's contents were discussed at a 15-minute meeting in June 2008.
The e-mail was related to the written transcripts from intercepted voicemail messages from the phone of Gordon Taylor, head of the UK’s Professional Footballers’ Association, who was suing the newspaper at the time. British police passed on the documents to Mr. Taylor.
The documents offered irrefutable evidence that the paper's hacking was not restricted to one "rogue reporter" as previously claimed by the newspaper – former NotW royal reporter Clive Goodman, who was jailed in 2007 alongside private investigator Glenn Mulcaire for hacking into the phones of royal aides. Since the Dowler affair has been revealed, NotW is thought to have hacked into the phones of as many as 4,000 people.
