News of the World investigation ruled out
By Ian Dunt
The director of public prosecutions has refused to re-open the original investigation concerning two men at the News of the World, despite recent allegations about practise at the newspaper.
Keir Starmer said re-opening the case would “not be appropriate”, but would not rule out legal action against others if new evidence was presented by police.
The statement is unlikely to satisfy the journalist behind the revelations – Nick Davies – whose dramatic appearance in front of MPs on the media committee this week saw him hand out evidence that police already had evidence to continue their investigation.
News of the World reporter Clive Goodman and private investigator Glen Mulcaire were jailed in 2007.
“There has been much speculation about whether or not persons other than those identified above were the victims of unlawful interception of their mobile telephones,” Mr Starmer said.
“There has also been much speculation about whether other suspects were identified or investigated at the time.
“Having examined the material that was supplied to the crown prosecution service (CPS) by the police in this case, I can confirm that no victims or suspects other than those referred to above were identified to the CPS at the time.
“I am not in a position to say whether the police had any information on any other victims or suspects that was not passed to the CPS.
“In light of my findings, it would not be appropriate to re-open the cases against Goodman or Mulcaire, or to revisit the decisions taken in the course of investigating and prosecuting them.”
Meanwhile, the self-regulation of the press will continue for the foreseeable future despite the phone tapping scandal, the government has confirmed.
Ask to review the Press Complaints Commission’s (PCC) status as a “paper tiger” by Lib Dem Lord Taverne yesterday, government spokesman Lord Davies poured cold water on the suggestion of a reform to the system.
“The Press Complaints Commission is an independent body that receives no public funding,” he said.
“We monitor how well self-regulation is working, but we have no locus to interfere with the status of the PCC.”
Lord Taverne heard arguments expressing the vital nature of press freedom from government interference, but suggested the PCC had a poor track record of holding media outlets to account.
“In 2007, when the News of the World journalist was jailed, it refused to conduct an inquiry into general illegal use of private investigators, despite very strong evidence that this practice was – and still is – widespread,” he said.
“It refuses to consider complaints by third parties and has ruled that it is not concerned with unfairness of reporting. On crucial issues in the last few years, the PCC has proved to be a paper tiger.
“It should be much more robustly independent of Fleet Street and much more effective in protecting the individual from abuse by a very powerful and largely unaccountable press.”
Lord Davies replied: “The Press Complaints Commission is concerned about the events of 2007 and that it may have been misled in the evidence that was given to it at that time. It is therefore engaging in a fresh investigation into those matters, as are the police.”
The PCC has been under severe scrutiny since the story broke last week, and its director faced tough questions for the culture, media and sport committee this Tuesday.
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