Murdoch was sent ‘hacking is rife’ email

Source / Courtesy: The Independent

Emails published today show that News International boss James Murdoch was sent details in 2008 of claims that phone-hacking was “rife” at the News of the World.

But Mr Murdoch told the House of Commons Culture Committee, which is investigating the hacking scandal, that he did not read the email exchange forwarded to him by the paper’s then editor Colin Myler.

In an email dated Saturday June 7 2008, Mr Myler requested a meeting with Mr Murdoch to discuss the case being brought against the paper by Professional Footballers Association chief executive Gordon Taylor over claims reporters had eavesdropped on his messages.

The News of the World editor warned Mr Murdoch: “Unfortunately, it is as bad as we feared.”

Attached to his message was a “chain” of emails detailing discussions between News International’s legal adviser Julian Pike of Farrer & Co and Mark Lewis, who represented Mr Taylor.

Mr Murdoch and Mr Myler met three days later on June 10, along with Tom Crone, legal manager for the NotW’s publishers News Group Newspapers. Mr Myler and Mr Crone say that they told Murdoch at that meeting about the discovery of the notorious “For Neville” email, which proved that phone-hacking was not limited to a single “rogue reporter” on the paper as the company had claimed.