Rupert Murdoch’s son faces MPs over phone hacking
November 10th, 2011 - 7:25 pm ICT by IANSLondon, Nov 10 (IANS) James Murdoch, News International chairman, Thursday appeared for the second time before British MPs regarding phone-hacking at the News of the World (NoW), BBC reported.
He had appeared before the parliamentary committee with father Rupert Murdoch in July on the first occasion over the hacking scandal.
James faced questions about what and how much he knew while signing off an out-of-court payment to footballers’ union leader Gordon Taylor in 2008.
His testimony to the culture, media and sport committee in July was disputed by the NoW’s former legal manager Tom Crone.
James has said he stands by his “accurate account of events” to the committee.
The NoW’s ex-chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck, however, has claimed the paper did not act on the information he gave it about hacking.
Thurlbeck is on police bail after being arrested in April on suspicion of unlawfully intercepting voicemail messages.
James claimed before the committee of being “aware” of an email suggesting hacking went beyond a single “rogue” reporter, Clive Goodman, who was jailed for four months in 2007.
Marked “for Neville” and assumed to refer to Thurlbeck, the e-mail carried transcripts of private voicemail messages revealing that Professional Footballers’ Association chief executive Gordon Taylor’s phone had been hacked.
The two former NoW executives - former editor Colin Myler and former legal manager Tom Crone - later issued a statement claiming they “did inform him” about the email in 2008 when he agreed to settle the Gordon Taylor case.
In July, the News of the World was shut down after it was found to have hacked into the voicemail messages of prominent individuals, including murdered teenager Milly Dowler and a number of celebrities, in search of stories.
Later, James, his father Rupert, boss of parent company News Corp, and Rebekah Brooks, former editor of the NoW, gave evidence to the Commons media committee.
They denied knowing the full extent of the allegations until evidence in civil cases was requested in late 2010.
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