NOTW loses case to keep phone-hacking evidence

Posted by Trafton Kenney on February 4, 2010 at 1:44 PM

The News of the World yesterday lost its court case to withhold secret evidence that allegedly documents the extensive use of phone-hacking by the newspaper's reporters and private investigators into the phone accounts of celebrities.

Judge Vos of the high court called for the evidence to be handed over to Max Clifford, a celebrity publicist. Clifford had alleged that the newspaper illegally tapped into the private voicemail of his mobile phone.

Jeremy Reed, Clifford's lawyer, told the court: "The documents are likely to illustrate the modus operandi of the News of the World's journalists when seeking private and confidential information about individuals for the purposes of stories being written about them." Anthony Hudson, counsel for News of the World, had argued that the secret documents did not mention Clifford and were irrelevant to his case.

Clifford is now entitled to view three sets of evidence. The first set involves documents discovered by the information commissioner during a raid on a private investigator. The commissioner's office claims that 27 News of the World reporters paid the investigator, Stephen Wittamore, to find personal information of certain celebrities. One reporter submitted 130 individual requests.

The second set concerns the work of Roger Mulcaire, the private investigator employed by the News of the World who was convicted in 2007 of hacking into the phones of five people. Clifford was one of the victims. Mulcaire must now disclose the names of the people who ordered him to cover Clifford, as well as anyone who received the recordings or transcripts of Clifford's messages. Any agreements between Mulcaire and News of the World would also be made available.

The judge also ruled that Clifford has the right to a copy of the agreement between the newspaper and Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of the Professional Footballer's Association who was paid £700,000 out of court for breach of privacy.

The ruling is the latest development in the phone-hacking scandal that has captured the attention of the British public since the Guardian first broke the story last July. It could lead to further scrutiny for Andy Coulson, the paper's former editor who now serves as David Cameron's media advisor.

Sources: Guardian