Rupert Murdoch was accused today of gagging the royal family's lawyers amid claims that key evidence in the phone hacking and bribery scandals has been held back from MPs.

In a sensational statement, legal firm Harbottle & Lewis said it wanted to speak out but had been forbidden by its client, News International, which owned the News of the World. Senior MPs said they may order News International to release the lawyers from their duty of client confidentiality, to ensure all relevant information is revealed.

Harbottle & Lewis has represented royalty including the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York. Its statement was released hours after Mr Murdoch and former chief prosecutor Lord Macdonald gave evidence to MPs. It said: "News International representatives referred to our advice in their statements ... before the parliamentary select committee, both as a result of questioning and on their own account.

"We asked News International to release us from our professional duties of confidentiality in order that we could respond to any inaccurate statements or contentions and to explain events in 2007. News International declined that request, and so we are still unable to respond in any detail as to our advice or the scope of our instructions in 2007, which is a matter of great regret."

The firm's role in the affair has been critical. In 2007 it took possession of hundreds of internal emails from News International which are now known to contain incriminating material. The file was finally handed to the police on June 20 this year.

In evidence to the Commons culture committee, James Murdoch said he believed assurances from Harbottle & Lewis that the emails did not show wider evidence of criminality. But Lord Macdonald, former director of public prosecutions, told the home affairs committee it took him less that five minutes to find evidence of serious offences. "It was impossible to look at that file not to see crime in its face," he said. He went to the News International board this year, which agreed the police must be told.

Keith Vaz, chairman of the home affairs committee, said: "I will write to Harbottle & Lewis to ask if they wish to clarify any of the statements made about them by Lord Macdonald, or if they have any new evidence to put before the committee" Labour MP Tom Watson, from the culture committee, said: "Harbottle & Lewis must be able to speak out. If News International holds them to client confidentiality they will suffer catastrophic reputational damage. We are inching closer to the truth and this will help us."

Fresh evidence from the lawyers could shed light on News International's failure to give police incriminating material until recently. The files were reviewed in 2007 by the company's legal director, John Chapman, and Daniel Cloke, former human resources director. John Yates, the assistant Met commissioner who resigned this week, told MPs: "the facts appear to be that News International have deliberately covered up" evidence.

Lord Macdonald said the file was put together in 2007 when Clive Goodman, former royal reporter at NoW, was bringing an unfair dismissal claim against News International. He said Harbottle & Lewis were "asked to give an opinion as to whether that information that had been gathered supported phone hacking".

Met to hand alleged phone-hacking notes to Hugh Grant and Jemima Khan

The Metropolitan police has been ordered by the high court to hand over information to Hugh Grant and Jemima Khan in relation to the alleged hacking of their voicemail messages by an investigator hired by the News of the World and other newspapers.

Mr Justice Vos told the court on Wednesday it was "expedient and proper" that information relating to messages allegedly intercepted by private investigator Glenn Mulcaire should be disclosed.

Grant and Khan had been contacted by the police "informally" with "details of the material which indicates there may have been interception of their telephone messages", the court heard.

David Sherborne representing Grant and Khan, also requested information held by Scotland Yard relating to the "passing of material about the claimants to other newspapers".

This is the first time newspapers other than the News of the World could potentially be drawn into the phone-hacking scandal as a result of the civil actions for invasion of privacy being brought by celebrities and other public figures.

The application for the disclosure of the material was not opposed by the police commissioner.

The high court also ordered the disclosure of former News of the World reporter Clive Goodman's notes in relation to his work as royal editor and the Blackadder gossip column he wrote at the paper.

Four years ago Goodman was sentenced to four months in jail after pleading guilty to intercepting phone messages. Mulcaire was sentenced to six months after pleading guilty to the same charge.

Neither Grant nor Khan were at the 20-minute hearing in London.

 

Rebekah Brooks’ husband has denied accusations of a cover up after police seized a bag containing a laptop computer and personal documents stashed in a bin near their London flat.

Suspicions were raised when Charlie Brooks, the racehorse trainer, who is married to the former News International CEO, attempted to reclaim the items, which were found by a security guard in the underground car park of the Design Centre close to their apartment block.
Detectives began examining the items amid concern that they could prove important in the phone hacking inquiry and fears were raised that they could have been deliberately dumped.
But last night Mr Brooks insisted the laptop and other items had nothing to do with his wife and said they had simply been misplaced following a mix-up with a friend.
He said an associate, who had been returning his bag, had accidentally left it in the car park, where it had inadvertently been placed with some rubbish.
When a security guard was made aware of the bag, he immediately alerted the police who seized the items for further analysis.

 

Jonathan May-Bowles – aka Jonnie Marbles – to appear before magistrates court on Friday

The protester accused of throwing a paper plate of shaving foam at Rupert Murdoch as he gave evidence to MPs has been charged with a public order offence.

Jonathan May-Bowles, 26, of Windsor, Berkshire, was bailed to appear before City of Westminster magistrates court on Friday.

He is charged with behaviour causing harassment, alarm or distress in a public place under Section 5 of the Public Order Act, Scotland Yard said.

May-Bowles, who goes by the name of Jonnie Marbles, was on Tuesday night suspended from the Labour party.

The incident occurred as Murdoch addressed the Commons culture, media and sport Committee.

A man who had been sitting at the back of the Wilson room in Portcullis House in Westminster listening to Murdoch and his son James give evidence, was seen to get up and walk around the left side of the packed room to get to where the media mogul was sitting.

He threw a paper plate with white foam piled on top at Murdoch's face

Murdoch's wife, Wendi Deng, leapt to her husband's defence, first pushing the attacker away and then throwing the plate at him as he was led away by police.

The incident was condemned by audience members and MPs including the Commons Speaker, John Bercow.

 

Rupert Murdoch's company was guilty of ‘deliberately thwarting’ the criminal investigation into the News of the World, according to a hard-hitting report published today

.

The Home Affairs Select Committee study ‘deplores’ the behaviour of News International and condemns the police for bungling their investigation and getting too close to the Murdoch empire.

The report raises questions about the honesty of former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks and Andy Hayman, who oversaw the original 2006 police probe of the newspaper.


Withering: MPs said they 'deplored' the response of News International to the original hacking investigation

In a withering assessment, the MPs say: ‘We deplore the response of News International to the original investigation into hacking.

‘It is almost impossible to escape the conclusion that they were deliberately trying to thwart a criminal investigation. We are astounded at the length of time it has taken for News International to co-operate with the police.’

 
What the Murdochs DIDN'T say that spoke volumes: Body language expert exposes chalk and cheese double act... while 'frail and submissive Rebekah Brooks is full of remorse'
'I DID use private detectives at News of the World,' admits Brooks as she claims she only found out about Milly phone hacking a fortnight ago
The report points out that Mrs Brooks’s denial of knowledge of phone hacking ‘is limited to her time as editor of News of the World’, a small part of her career in News International.

And it also raises concerns about her knowledge of illegal payments to corrupt police officers. ‘She did not say that she had no knowledge of specific payments but that she had not intended to give the impression that she had knowledge of specific cases,’ the MPs conclude.


The report raises issues about the honesty of Rebekah Brooks, left, and former assistant Met commissioner Andy Hayman, right

The committee condemns the police, singling out former assistant Met commissioner Mr Hayman,  criticising his handling of the case, his social contacts with News International executives and his decision to take a job with the firm after leaving the police.

It said: ‘Mr Hayman’s conduct during the investigation and during our evidence session was both unprofessional and inappropriate.’

● Police officers will be jailed for accepting cash bribes from News of the World journalists, MPs were told yesterday.

The newspaper is alleged to have paid tens of thousands of pounds to officers who supplied information.

Asked by MPs on a parliamentary committee if any officers would go to prison, the outgoing assistant  commissioner of the Met Police, John Yates, replied: ‘If the corruption cases, which are very small in number, are properly investigated, I have no doubt.’

Mr Yates resigned from the force on Monday after he was told he faced suspension over his links to the newspaper.

Tiger wife. Power vegan. Volleyball player. The spouse of media mogul Robert Murdoch is no pushover.

Rupert Murdoch's 42-year-old wife, Wendi Deng, who had been sitting right behind her husband during a inquisition with the House of Commons Select Committee on Tuesday, leaped forward to stop a protester from smashing a pie into her husband's face.
The protester, covered in white foam, was hauled away and the session was suspended.
No sooner had Deng straightened her pink couture jacket, Twitter messages buzzed worldwide, ranging from “Go Wendi” to “Wendi Deng. Tiger Wife!”
The chairman of the parliamentary committee even commented on her defense skill: "Mr. Murdoch, your wife has a very good left hook," The Hollywood Reporter reported.
Murdoch and his son, James Murdoch, had spent the day repeatedly telling British lawmakers that they were not responsible for a phone hacking scandal that has rocked the Murdoch empire.
Story: Brooks, Murdochs apologetic — and on defensive
Parbul  /  AFP - Getty Images
News Corporation Chief Rupert Murdoch, front right, and his son James giving evidence to a Parliamentary Select Committee on the phone hacking scandal. Murdoch's wife, Wendi Deng, is in pink.
Details emerged of the woman behind the power hit.
Deng was born in Shandong, China, in 1968 to engineer parents. She was named Wen Ge, which is shorthand for "Cultural Revolution."
She played volleyball in China.
She married Jake Cherry, who along with his first wife had sponsored her student visa in 1988, The Business Insider reported. They divorced years later.
She studied at Cal State before earning an MBA from Yale University.
Deng met Murdoch at a News Corp. party in Hong Kong in 1997. They married in 1999, weeks after his former marriage was dissolved.
News Corp. paid Deng $92,000 in 2010 for "strategic advice" on MySpace's expansion into China, according to the Insider.
Deng is Murdoch's third wife, and they live in Manhattan. They have two daughters, Grace and Chloe.
She produced the film “Snow Flower and the Secret Fan,” which opened last week. At a weekend showing at the Southampton UA theater that Deng hosted, guests included Barbara Walters, Rudy Giuliani and designer Tori Burch.

Rebekah Brooks, who was editor of the News Of The World when the paper allegedly hacked Milly Dowler's phone, has said she first heard about the claims two weeks ago.

Speaking at a Commons committee hearing, Mrs Brooks denied any knowledge of the allegations before they appeared in the press.
It is claimed she was at the helm when the murdered schoolgirl's voicemails were illegally accessed by the tabloid following her abduction in 2002.
Mrs Brooks, said she found it "staggering to believe" that anyone at the News of the World (NOTW) could have authorised it.
She said at the time of Milly's disappearance she believed that the press had acted with "huge caution" and done its best to respect the family's privacy.
Explaining the moment she heard of the claims about Milly's phone, she said: "My instant reaction, like everybody else, was one of shock and disgust."

Milly Dowler's phone was allegedly hacked by the NOTW
Mrs Brooks said for "a family who had suffered so much already, these allegations clearly added immeasurably to their suffering".
"The first thing I did was write to Mr and Mrs Dowler with a full apology to say that we would get to the bottom of the allegations."
She added: "The idea that Milly Dowler's phone was accessed by someone being paid by the News of the World, or even worse authorised by someone at the News of the World, is as abhorrent to me as it is to everyone in this room.
"And it is an ultimate regret that the speed in which we have tried to find out the bottom of these investigations has been too slow."
Police have said there could be almost 4,000 hacking victims.
Mrs Brooks is one of a number of people arrested by officers investigating the claims. She was later released on bail.
Among those who may have had their phone hacked are families of those who died in the 7/7 bombings.
Mrs Brooks said allegations that the NOTW illegally accessed the voicemails of victims of crime were "horrific".

Charlie Brooks's kriotherapy freeze-treatment service at health spa Champneys

Buried in the torrent of revelations about News International is the interesting fact that Rebekah Brooks's husband, Charlie, runs a "kriotherapy" centre at Champneys, the spa that played a part in Sir Paul Stephenson's demise after revelations that he enjoyed a free five-week stay there. Is "kriotherapy" legitimate enough to be allowed out without its "scare quotes" on, or are the Brooks family backing another less-than-reputable product?

"Kriotherapy" is an innovative take on America's "cryotherapy", with a "k" instead of a "c" to make it sound cooler – like Krispy Kreme donuts, but marginally healthier. People take off most of their clothes, sit in front of a fan for a bit to dry their skin, and then lark about for a few minutes in a freezer set to more than a hundred degrees below zero. The treatments are offered by Champneys for fitness, body-sculpting, injury rehabilitation, and general wellbeing, with specific claims that it can help with depression, infertility, psoriasis and insomnia.

The treatment has had a huge amount of publicity in the press, with features in the Independent, Telegraph and FHM. Articles about it tend to follow a particular pattern: 1) reporter seeks treatment on the trail of a celebrity aficionado (Tony Blair, Jason Orange, Frank Bruno, you know the type), 2) reporter puts on silly outfit and feels a bit nervous, 3) reporter goes into the freezer and comes out feeling all tingly and invigorated, much as you would if you'd had a bucket of ice cold water tipped over your head.

 

Don't blame me - I only own the firm

Disgraced media mogul Rupert Murdoch denied today that he was responsible for phone hacking and the bribery of police officers by News International staff.

A shambling Mr Murdoch told a committee of MPs he was not aware that former News of the World Editor Rebekah Brooks had admitted in 2003 that the paper paid police officers.

During forensic questioning from Labour MP Tom Watson in the culture, media and sport select committee Mr Murdoch was asked whether he had been "misled" by senior employees.

"Clearly," he replied.

Mr Watson pointed out that former News International chief executive Ms Brooks admitted in 2003 that police had been paid for information.

Mr Murdoch said: "I am now aware of that. I was not aware at the time.

"I'm also aware that she amended that very quickly afterwards."

Mr Watson said: "I think she amended it seven or eight years afterwards but did you or anyone else in your organisation investigate it at the time?"

Mr Murdoch replied: "No. I didn't know of it."

Asked why he had not sacked News of the World chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck after the Max Mosley civil case, when the judge found he had blackmailed two prostitutes involved, Rupert Murdoch replied: "I have never heard of him."

Mr Watson asked him why he thought he had not been informed of such a serious case by News International executives.

"Do you think this was because they thought you would think nothing of it?" he asked.

Quizzed by Jim Sheridan MP, Mr Murdoch denied that he was ultimately responsible for the "fiasco."

Asked who was, he replied: "The people that I trusted and then, maybe, the people they trusted."

Mr Murdoch also revealed he had been invited to have a cup of tea as a thank you by the Prime Minister within days of the general election last year.

He denied imposing any "preconditions" on party leaders before giving them support.

He also denied exerting influence over his editors.

In a brief opening statement Mr Murdoch had claimed: "This is the most humble day of my life."

Sitting alongside his son James he said he was "more than prepared" to answer the committee's questions on the phone hacking scandal.

James Murdoch, News Corp's deputy chief operating officer, began by saying how sorry he and his father were to the victims in the News of the World phone-hacking scandal.

"It is a matter of great regret of mine, my father's and everyone at News Corporation.

"These actions do not live up to the standards our company aspires to everywhere around the world," he said.

He said the company had acted "as swiftly and transparently as possible" as soon as it became aware of fresh evidence over phone hacking after a series of civil actions in 2010, particularly the case involving actor Sienna Miller.

A small group of protesters gathered outside Portcullis House wearing Rupert Murdoch, Sir Paul Stephenson and David Cameron masks.

One held a placard emblazoned with the slogan "smash Murdoch's evil empire."

A number of protesters also gained access to the committee room and had to be ejected before proceedings commenced.

 

Anonymous releases Rebekah Brooks’ email address and password

Online activism group Anonymous has released a host of email addresses and passwords it claims belong to senior News International executives past and present, including the company’s embattled former chief Rebekah Brooks. The hackers said that they also have a collection of emails stolen from News International servers, which they say they are “sitting on”.

The hackers said that “anyone who can find [Ms Brooks'] webmail account” could use the details to access her emails. In an attack apparently linked to the phone hacking scandal currently engulfing News International, the hackers also defaced The Sun’s website, redirecting visitors to a fake site, running spoof stories that News Corporation Chairman Rupert Murdoch had been found dead.

The group released details it said belong to The Sun’s Editorial Manager for online content, Danny Rogers; former News of the World Managing Editor Bill Akass and another it claimed was a Sun staff-member, but whose identity could not be verified as of Monday night. It also released mobile phone numbers of three people it said were News International staff.

And in a further twist, one of the hackers responsible for the attack warned that media outlets, until now protected from attack, would become targets. Speaking exclusively to The Independent, Sabu – rumoured to have been the mastermind behind the LulzSec project – said: “We thoroughly scrutinize the media for bullshit reporting, lax investigative efforts. Mind you, you think The Sun is the only one?

“New York Times, Forbes, LA Times, we’re going in.” However, it is unclear for what reason, specifically, those outlets have been targeted.

In another attack, members of an Anonymous operation named OpBritain took down The Times’ website, as well as a site it described as a “fan site” for Rupert Murdoch. Hackers working within OpBritian, an operation carried out by Anonymous, hit Rupertmurdoch.com and TheTimes.co.uk with denial of service attacks.

On Monday night, a News International spokesman said: “We are aware and our technical teams are working on it.”

 

Did Rebekah Brooks Try to Ditch Her Computer, Notes and Phone?

A day before Rebekah Brooks is set to appear before a Parliament select committee, she or her husband Charlie may have left an extra piece of evidence for law-enforcement officials to probe.

A bag holding a computer, paperwork and a phone was found in a garbage can by the security guard in an underground garage “yards” from Brooks’ home. The Guardian is reporting that Charlie had tried to claim the bag but was unable to prove it was his.

Brooks said the bag was in a bin because a cleaning person must have thought it was garbage. After he left, the security guard at the garage called the police.

Brooks’ spokesman has denied that the bag had anything to do with Rebekah or the phone-hacking scandal. Rebekah, former chief executive of News Corp.’s British publishing arm News International, was arrested on Sunday in connection with the hacking scandal.

She will appear before Parliament's Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee Tuesday morning with Rupert and James Murdoch, her former bosses, testifying immediately after.

 

News of the World phone-hacking whistleblower found dead

Sean Hoare, the former News of the World showbiz reporter who was the first named journalist to allege Andy Coulson was aware of phone hacking by his staff, has been found dead, the Guardian has learned.

Hoare, who worked on the Sun and the News of the World with Coulson before being dismissed for drink and drugs problems, is said to have been found dead at his Watford home.

Hertfordshire police would not confirm his identity, but the force said in a statement: "At 10.40am today [Monday 18 July] police were called to Langley Road, Watford, following the concerns for the welfare of a man who lives at an address on the street. Upon police and ambulance arrival at a property, the body of a man was found. The man was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after.

"The death is currently being treated as unexplained, but not thought to be suspicious. Police investigations into this incident are ongoing."

Hoare first made his claims in a New York Times investigation into the phone-hacking allegations at the News of the World.

He told the newspaper that not only did Coulson know of the phone hacking, but that he actively encouraged his staff to intercept the phone calls of celebrities in the pursuit of exclusives.

In a subsequent interview with the BBC he alleged that he was personally asked by his then-editor, Coulson, to tap into phones. In an interview with the PM programme he said Coulson's insistence that he didn't know about the practice was "a lie, it is simply a lie".

At the time a Downing Street spokeswoman said Coulson totally and utterly denied the allegations and said he had "never condoned the use of phone hacking and nor do I have any recollection of incidences where phone hacking took place".

Sean Hoare, a one-time close friend of Coulson's, told the New York Times the two men first worked together at the Sun, where, Hoare said, he played tape recordings of hacked messages for Coulson. At the News of the World, Hoare said he continued to inform Coulson of his activities. Coulson "actively encouraged me to do it", Hoare said.

In September last year, he was interviewed under caution by police over his claims that the former Tory communications chief asked him to hack into phones when he was editor of the paper, but declined to make any comment.

Hoare returned to the spotlight last week, after he told the New York Times that reporters at the News of the World were able to use police technology to locate people using their mobile phone signals in exchange for payments to police officers.

He said journalists were able to use a technique called "pinging" which measured the distance between mobile handsets and a number of phone masts to pinpoint its location.

Hoare gave further details about the use of "pinging" to the Guardian last week. He described how reporters would ask a news desk executive to obtain the location of a target: "Within 15 to 30 minutes someone on the news desk would come back and say 'right that's where they are.'"

He said: "You'd just go to the news desk and they'd just come back to you. You don't ask any questions. You'd consider it a job done. The chain of command is one of absolute discipline and that's why I never bought into it, like with Andy saying he wasn't aware of it and all that. That's bollocks."

He said he would stand by everything he had told the New York Times about "pinging". "I don't know how often it happened. That would be wrong of me. But if I had access as a humble reporter … "

He admitted he had had problems with drink and drugs and had been in rehab. "But that's irrelevant," he said. "There's more to come. This is not going to go away."

Hoare named a private investigator who he said had links with the News of the World, adding: "He may want to talk now because I think what you'll find now is a lot of people are going to want to cover their arse."

Speaking to another Guardian journalist last week, Hoare repeatedly expressed the hope that the hacking scandal would lead to journalism in general being cleaned up and said he had decided to blow the whistle on the activities of some of his former News of the World colleagues with that aim in mind.

He also said he had been injured the previous weekend while taking down a marquee erected for a children's party. He said he had broken his nose and badly injured his foot when a relative accidentally struck him with a heavy pole from the marquee.

Hoare also emphasised that he was not making any money from telling his story. Hoare, who has been treated for drug and alcohol problems, reminisced about partying with former pop stars and said he missed the days when he was able to go out on the town.

 

Metropolitan Police chief Sir Paul Stephenson has resigned.

Sir Paul announced his resignation at a press conference this evening in the wake of revelations that he received a £12k spa break where News of the World hacking suspect Neil Wallis was a PR consultant.

The Metropolitan Police Commissioner was already under pressure after it emerged that he hired Mr Wallis as a PR consultant for the force.

Scotland Yard denied that it was the 60-year-old ex-journalist who had arranged the stay for the top officer as he recovered from surgery.

Stephen Purdew the managing director laid on the stay at the resort to provide him with the accommodation.

But the disclosure will raise further questions about Sir Paul's judgment, days after he faced a dressing down from London Mayor Boris Johnson over the PR contract.

Mid-range premier double rooms at the exclusive health resort cost £598 per person in Tring, Hertfordshire.

Neil Wallis - known as Wolfman for his no-nonsense approach in the newsroom - was paid £24,000 by the Met Police in 2009 and 2010 for 'provide strategic communication advice and support'.

His contract was cancelled less than six months before the launch of the Operation Weeting investigation into phone hacking.

The ex-journalist, who was Andy Coulson's deputy editor, was arrested on suspicion of intercepting mobile phones in a dawn swoop on his home in Chiswick, west London on Thursday. He was later released on bail.

After leaving the News of the World in 2009, Mr Wallis had created the set up his own PR consultancy Chamy Media.

Rebekah Brooks, the schmoozer hated by Murdoch's wife and daughter

Who would have imagined when Lewis Carroll wrote Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland in 1865 that the Cheshire village of Daresbury where he lived would one day produce its own real-life Alice?

Her name was Rebekah Wade (now Brooks) and her tugboat-man father could have had no idea when his only child was born in 1968 that she would step — or rather schmooze — into a world of princes, prime ministers and proprietors, every bit as hazardous as Alice’s.

This was the media wonderland run by Rupert Murdoch, and until yesterday he made sure that no harm would come to the girl he has virtually treated as another daughter (he has four real daughters, from three marriages).


No love lost: Elisabeth Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks are not close friends and Ms Murdoch has even suggested in the wake of the scandal that she has f***** the company

Asked for his priority when arriving in Britain on the day he shut the News of the World to handle the phone hacking and police-bribing scandals, he gestured at the smiling, ever-attendant Rebekah standing next to him and replied: ‘This one.’ So the grief and frustration felt by the 80-year-old mogul would have been immense yesterday as his cherished Rebekah bowed to the inevitable and resigned from her role as News International’s chief executive.

How different things might have been had she stepped down at the start of the crisis. It might have stopped the News of the World closing and hundreds working there from losing their jobs.

 

Murdoch admits I've let my father down as he makes emotional apology to Milly's family
Yet Murdoch’s feelings of loss won’t be shared by the women in his family. Daughter Elisabeth, a year younger than Rebekah Brooks and almost as tough, is understood to have fulminated at her handling of the scandal, telling friends that Mrs Brooks had ‘f*****’ the company. And last month when Murdoch’s young and glamorous third wife Wendi failed to turn up at his summer party at London’s Kensington Gardens, friends murmured darkly that it was ‘because Rebekah will be there’.

But then observers believe Rebekah Brooks’s remarkably swift rise in the company was due not so much to her talents as a journalist but to her single-minded ruthlessness and her dazzling, feline ability to charm. ‘Rebekah schmoozes in one direction only — up,’ says one of her oldest acquaintances. ‘I don’t know anyone who is better at love-bombing, when it matters. I wouldn’t think Rupert stood a chance.’


Father figure: Rebekah Brooks and Rupert Murdoch have a very close relationship, leading to even Murdoch's wife Wendi avoiding functions that she attends

She and Murdoch went for swims together, they sailed together. When a surprised colleague asked: ‘Who sails?’ she replied simply: ‘The Murdochs.’ She talked to Murdoch every day. When he walked into a room at a business or social gathering, she was at his side.

‘It’s always been obvious that he feels like a father figure to her,’ says one of his circle. At social functions she was his ‘part nurse, part protector,’ says one of the circle. ‘On one occasion, I even heard her asking him: “Have you taken your pills, Rupert?”’

‘She watches over him and makes sure he is comfortable with whoever he’s talking to; making sure his glass is filled. Rupert’s not young any more, and it was clear that the older he got the more he relied on her. She made herself indispensable.’

But then, being indispensable was her speciality — during her years as editor of the News of the World and The Sun, she made herself indispensable to Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron, in turn. She went to their parties and they certainly made sure they went to hers.

No one could say that Rebekah Brooks did not live up to a reputation which, frankly, scared even powerful men — not to mention the staff who remember her, as an editor, demanding they do ‘whatever it takes’ to bring in exclusive stories.

 

Ex-News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks has been arrested by police investigating phone hacking and bribery at the News of the World.

The 43-year-old was arrested by appointment at a London police station and remains in custody.

She was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications and on suspicion of corruption allegations.

She quit News International on Friday as pressure mounted over her role.

Mrs Brooks was editor of the paper between 2000 and 2003, during which time the phone belonging to murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler was tampered with.

BBC business editor Robert Peston said sources had confirmed it was Mrs Brooks who had been arrested, but Scotland Yard refused to name the woman.

Our correspondent also said News International was not aware that Mrs Brooks would be arrested when her resignation was being discussed at the company on Tuesday and Wednesday of last week. She eventually resigned on Friday.

The BBC's Mark Sanders: "This is a very fresh and intriguing development"
A spokesman for Mrs Brooks says the Met police notified her on Friday, after her resignation had been agreed, that she would be arrested.

Committee appointment
It is the tenth arrest made by Operation Weeting police who are conducting the current investigation into phone hacking.

Officers from Operation Elveden were also involved with the arrest. They are investigating allegations of inappropriate payments to police, an inquiry which is being supervised by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Mrs Brooks is due to appear in front of the Commons media select committee on Tuesday to answer MPs questions on the hacking scandal.

Mrs Brooks' spokesman said her arrest would make her appearance at the committee "pretty tricky".

Her former boss News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch and his son James Murdoch, chairman of News International, are also due to appear.

Hollywood actor Jude Law was on Saturday reported to be suing The Sun newspaper

Hollywood actor Jude Law was on Saturday reported to be suing The Sun newspaper for allegedly hacking into his voice mails for stories about his private life.

The tabloid is published by Rupert Murdoch's media group News International which is already at the centre of a storm over phone hacking allegations relating to the News of the World.

The News International rejected Mr. Law's claim describing it as “a deeply cynical and deliberately mischievous attempt” to drag The Sun into the hacking scandal that forced the closure of NoW last week.

CYNICISM

In a statement, the company said: “The allegations have been carefully investigated by our lawyers and the evidence shows they have no foundation whatsoever.'' Mr. Law's legal team dismissed the accusations of cynicism and mischief by News International as “ridiculous''. “Their record speaks for itself,'' said his lawyer. Rebekah Brooks, who resigned as chief executive of News International on Friday, was Editor of The Sun at the time Mr. Law claims his phone was hacked. It was also under her watch that alleged malpractices at NoW took place.

Scotland Yard evidence room:treasure-trove of evidence: 11,000 pages of handwritten notes listing nearly 4,000 celebrities, politicians, sports stars, police officials and crime victims whose phones may have been hacked by The News of the World

For nearly four years they lay piled in a Scotland Yard evidence room, six overstuffed plastic bags gathering dust and little else.

Inside was a treasure-trove of evidence: 11,000 pages of handwritten notes listing nearly 4,000 celebrities, politicians, sports stars, police officials and crime victims whose phones may have been hacked by The News of the World, a now defunct British tabloid newspaper.

Yet from August 2006, when the items were seized, until the autumn of 2010, no one at the Metropolitan Police Service, commonly referred to as Scotland Yard, bothered to sort through all the material and catalog every page, said former and current senior police officials.

During that same time, senior Scotland Yard officials assured Parliament, judges, lawyers, potential hacking victims, the news media and the public that there was no evidence of widespread hacking by the tabloid. They steadfastly maintained that their original inquiry, which led to the conviction of one reporter and one private investigator, had put an end to what they called an isolated incident.

After the past week, that assertion has been reduced to tatters, torn apart by a spectacular avalanche of contradictory evidence, admissions by News International executives that hacking was more widespread, and a reversal by police officials who now admit to mishandling the case.

Assistant Commissioner John Yates of the Metropolitan Police Service publicly acknowledged that he had not actually gone through the evidence. “I’m not going to go down and look at bin bags,” Mr. Yates said, using the British term for trash bags.

At best, former Scotland Yard senior officers acknowledged in interviews, the police have been lazy, incompetent and too cozy with the people they should have regarded as suspects. At worst, they said, some officers might be guilty of crimes themselves.

“It’s embarrassing, and it’s tragic,” said a retired Scotland Yard veteran. “This has badly damaged the reputation of a really good investigative organization. And there is a major crisis now in the leadership of the Yard.”

The testimony and evidence that emerged last week, as well as interviews with current and former officials, indicate that the police agency and News International, the British subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation and the publisher of The News of the World, became so intertwined that they wound up sharing the goal of containing the investigation.

Members of Parliament said in interviews that they were troubled by a “revolving door” between the police and News International, which included a former top editor at The News of the World at the time of the hacking who went on to work as a media strategist for Scotland Yard.

On Friday, The New York Times learned that the former editor, Neil Wallis, was reporting back to News International while he was working for the police on the hacking case.

Executives and others at the company also enjoyed close social ties to Scotland Yard’s top officials. Since the hacking scandal began in 2006, Mr. Yates and others regularly dined with editors from News International papers, records show. Sir Paul Stephenson, the police commissioner, met for meals 18 times with company executives and editors during the investigation, including on eight occasions with Mr. Wallis while he was still working at The News of the World.

Senior police officials declined several requests to be interviewed for this article.

The police have continually asserted that the original investigation was limited because the counterterrorism unit, which was in charge of the case, was preoccupied with more pressing demands. At the parliamentary committee hearing last week, the three officials said they were working on 70 terrorist investigations.

Yet the Metropolitan Police unit that deals with special crimes, and which had more resources and time available, could have taken over the case, said four former senior investigators. One said it was “utter nonsense” to argue that the department did not have enough resources.

Another senior investigator said officials saw the inquiry as being in “safe hands” at the counterterrorism unit.

 

Rebecca Brooks flame-haired Queen of Fleet Street

 

The flame haired, 43-year-old ability to get the scoop and rise up the corporate ladder were down to a potent mix of ruthlessness and dazzling charm.
Rebekah Brooks resigns as chief executive of News International in wake of phone-hacking scandal
That and an extraordinary ability to make friends in high places that meant the guest list to her wedding two years ago read like a Who's Who of modern Britain.
She has risen from the very bottom to the very top of the profession.
She started life as a secretary and 22 years later ended up as the right hand woman of the most powerful man in world of journalism.
The fact it took 12 days before she was finally let go from New International shows how far she has ingratiated herself in to the Rupert Murdoch family.


Many believe he sacrificed the News of the World in an attempt to save his "adopted daughter"
Mrs Brooks, then Wade, grew up in a middle class home in the village of Daresbury – nestled between the industrial Cheshire towns of Runcorn and Warrington.
An only child, she attended Appleton Hall County Grammar School and it was here, at 14, that she decided to become a journalist.
She began working weekends at Eddy Shah’s Messenger Group in Warrington, "making tea and helping out".
After taking her A-levels she travelled to Paris, where she found a temporary job on the architecture and art journal L’architecture d’Aujourd’hui.
Her Who’s Who entry claims that while in the French capital she attended the Sorbonne.
Rather than a full degree, she appears to have enrolled on a six month culture, literature and language course for foreign students.
Back in the UK, Mrs Brook’s first break came with the help of a friend of her father Robert.
The friend was one of a number of former Daily Star executives hired by Mr Shah to run his new tabloid, The Post.
He got her a job as a secretary, but she displayed a hunger to make a name for herself.
Her then colleague Tim Minogue, now a journalist on Private Eye, said: "She was very bright, very intelligent, but instead of taking memos she was always bombarding the features editor with ideas for stories. I’ve never met anyone so ambitious."
One of her early triumphs came when she volunteered to drive 900 miles in 48 hours in her ageing Renault 5 to pick up a crate of an "aphrodisiac beer" form a Strasbourg brewery, which
The Post wanted to give away as a prize.
It was this sort of mix of dogged determination and initiative that helped make her name when, aged 20, she moved to London and joined the News Of the World, first as a secretary and then a feature writer on its Sunday magazine.
Mrs Brooks rose to become the paper’s deputy editor, forging a strong friendship with its editor, Piers Morgan.
She was quickly spotted by Rupert Murdoch, who admired her drive and unswerving loyalty to the company.
So close did they become that the pair regularly swam together when he was in London and she came to be regarded as his fifth – and favourite – daughter.
In 1998 she was appointed deputy editor of The Sun, before returning to the News of the World as editor in 2000.
In 2003 she became The Sun’s first female editor and one her first day ran a picture of topless Page Three model Rebekah Parmar-Teasdale, captioned "Rebekah from Wapping, 22", a sign she had put aside reported objections to Page 3.
The previous year she had married Ross Kemp, the EastEnders actor. In a bizarre incident in 2005 she was arrested after allegedly assaulting Mr Kemp, though police released her without charge.
She reportedly walked into her office the next day – straight from the police station – asked "much going on?" then declared that she had personally supplied a great front page story for Rupert Murdoch, who was in London at the time.
In June 2009 – the same month The Guardian broke the phone hacking story which would come back to haunt her and destroy the News of the World – it was announced that she would become News International’s chief executive from the following September.
At the same time Mrs Brook, said never to forget a name, was moving in elevated social circles.
She attended the Prince of Wales’s 50th birthday party at Highgrove and counted the Blairs among her circle of friends.
It was Mrs Brooks to whom Mrs Blair revealed her pregnancy with her son Leo.
There were dinners with Bono, the campaigner and U2 singer, and a "sleepover" with Sarah Brown at Chequers.
Following her divorce from Mr Kemp, she married former jockey Charlie Brooks.
The couple are at the heart of what has come to be known as "the Chipping Norton set", which includes the PR mogul Matthew Freud, his wife Elizabeth Murdoch, Rupert’s daughter, along with Mr Cameron and his wife Samantha, whose constituency house is close to the Brooks’ country home in the Oxfordshire town.
Others in the set include Alex James of Blur, Jeremy Clarkson, Sir Anthony Bamford, the founder of JCB, and Emily Oppenheimer Turner, of the De Beers diamond dynasty.
But it is her friendship with Mr Cameron – and the influence it brought News International – which has now become one of the most controversial aspects of the News of the World affair.
The pair are said to have gone riding together and in February this year it was disclosed that Mr Cameron had spent an evening during Christmas at the Brooks’s.
All of these friends are now likely to be dragged into the "phone hacking" scandal.
But it is unlikely many will phone to say thank you.

 

Rebekah Brooks has resigned as News International chief executive, the company has confirmed.

Here is the full statement from News Corporation:

"News Corporation today announced the appointment of Tom Mockridge to the role of Chief Executive Officer of News International.

"Mr Mockridge will assume responsibility for his new role with immediate effect following the resignation of Rebekah Brooks.

"Mr Mockridge joins News International from Sky Italia where he has been Chief Executive Officer since launch in 2003. He was also Chief Executive European Television of News Corporation, overseeing News Corporation’s television operations in Europe, outside of the UK.

"Laura Cioli, Chief Operating Officer, and Domenico Labianca, Chief Finance Officer, will assume Mr Mockridge’s responsibilities on an interim basis, reporting to James Murdoch, Deputy Chief Operating Officer and Chairman and CEO, International, News Corporation.

"Prior to joining Sky Italia, Mr Mockridge was Chief Executive of the publicly-listed New Zealand company, Independent Newspapers, and Chairman of Sky New Zealand.

"He previously held various roles at Star Group Limited and spent three years as Chief Executive Officer of Foxtel, News Corporation’s Australian pay TV joint venture. Mr Mockridge joined News Corporation in January 1991, working for Ken Cowley, Chairman and Chief Executive of the Australian newspaper company News Limited. Before that, he was a spokesperson in the Australian government.

"He started his career as a newspaper journalist in New Zealand.

"Mr Mockridge is also a non-executive director of BSkyB and a member of the Supervisory Board of Sky Deutschland.

"James Murdoch, Deputy Chief Operating Officer and Chairman and CEO, International, News Corporation, said: 'Tom is an outstanding executive with unrivalled experience across our journalism and television businesses.

"'He has proven himself to be a very effective operator in his time at Sky Italia. Under his leadership, Sky has grown to become one of the world’s most successful pay TV businesses, reaching close to 5 million homes and launching channels like TG24 which has set a new standard for independent journalism in Italy.

“'I believe that Tom is the best person to move the company forward to a brighter future.'"

Rebekah Brooks resigns as COE of News International

Rebekah Brooks resigns