UK Newspaper Under Fire For Illegal Phone Tapping
Posted on: Friday, 10 July 2009, 07:15 CDT
Prosecutors announced Thursday that they would reconsider the evidence they had over accusations that a newspaper had unlawfully phone-tapped several celebrities.
Keir Starmer, the head of public prosecutions, ordered the review, even though the police will conduct no further investigations into the matter.
The Guardian newspaper stated on Thursday that government ministers, actors, singers, football stars, models and novelists were targeted in the 2006 scheme by the News of the World tabloid.
The newspaper sells 2.9 million copies every Sunday and is a huge part of media tycoon Rupert Murdoch's empire.
The Guardian noted that the News Group Newspapers had paid $1.6 million out of court to restrain legal documents that would have unveiled evidence the amount of phone tapping that was carried out by the paper.
Starmer wanted to be reassured that "appropriate actions" were being taken, and plans to release a statement shortly.
"In the light of the fresh allegations that have been made, some preliminary inquiries have been undertaken and I have now ordered an urgent examination of the material," he said.
News Group's parent company, News International, stated that it was "prevented by confidentiality obligations from discussing certain allegations made in The Guardian".
On the other hand, they noted that the firm was working to make certain that its journalists "fully comply" with the law.
"At the same time, we will not shirk from vigorously defending our right and proper role to expose wrongdoing in the public interest," it added.
The News of the World's editor Clive Goodman and a private detective were charged in 2006 after messages sent to Prince William were unlawfully accessed. Goodman was sent to jail for four months.
Assistant Commissioner John Yates of London's Metropolitan Police stated on Thursday that: "No additional evidence has come to light since this case has concluded. I therefore consider that no further investigation is required."
"Their potential targets may have run into hundreds of people, but our inquiries showed that they only used the tactic against a far smaller number of individuals. In the vast majority of cases there was insufficient evidence to show that tapping had actually been achieved.”
"I emphasize that our enquiries were solely concerned with phone tapping," he added.
Yates said that he acknowledged the worries of people who felt that their privacy "may have been intruded upon" and would guarantee that the police would remain "diligent, reasonable and sensible."
Prime Minister Gordon Brown finds that the issue "raises questions that are serious that will obviously have to be answered".
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Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports
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