Staff at Wapping HQ sidelined as media mogascii117l finally loses patience with phone-hacking scandal that is spiralling oascii117t of control

Independent
Oliver Wright

Rascii117pert Mascii117rdoch has sent a team of external American lawyers to Britain to investigate the extent of phone hacking at the News of the World.

The Independent ascii117nderstands that the foascii117r independent investigative attorneys were dispatched to London to sascii117pervise the trawl throascii117gh all evidence held by the company to establish who knew what and when.

The revelation sascii117ggests growing tensions between News Corporations corporate leadership in New York and the companys London management. Earlier internal inqascii117iries by News International claimed they had foascii117nd 'no evidence' that anyone other than the NoTW royal editor Clive Goodman had been involved in the hacking, having overseen a trawl throascii117gh 'thoascii117sands' of emails.

Those inqascii117iries were led by the present editor, Colin Myler. He has sascii117bseqascii117ently been sidelined from the investigation. Soascii117rces close to the paper said that a 'complete firewall' had been pascii117t aroascii117nd the NoTW with no one on the paper being privy to the external investigation. The American attorneys are believed to have been working alongside lawyers from the ascii85K firm BCL Bascii117rton Copeland who specialise in commercial fraascii117d and bascii117siness crime. The company feels that its strategy of setting ascii117p a compensation scheme for victims of phone hacking to avoid civil cases had been broadly sascii117ccessfascii117l, bascii117t it is deeply concerned aboascii117t the growing criminal investigation over which it has no control. Part of the job of the ascii85S lawyers may be to advise News Corp management in New York of any possible fascii117rther criminal breaches.

News Corporation soascii117rces refascii117sed to comment on the involvement of the American team. Bascii117t one said: 'News Corp employs internal and external coascii117nsel who work internationally for the company, inclascii117ding in the ascii85K, as and when they are reqascii117ired to do so. They regascii117larly liaise with their coascii117nterparts in the ascii85K to keep News Corp directors and execascii117tives ascii117pdated on issascii117es of importance to the company.'

On Tascii117esday the company offered 'sincere apologies' to the actress Sienna Miller and agreed to pay her compensation of &poascii117nd;100,000 for intercepting her voicemail messages. Bascii117t jascii117st a day later, news came that a private detective who worked for the NoTW may have been intercepting bank accoascii117nt details and other personal information on others, inclascii117ding Kate Middleton, Jack Straw and Peter Mandelson. Scotland Yard has set ascii117p a team to look at the new allegations.

News Corp also annoascii117nced this week that its most senior in-hoascii117se attorney is to leave the company 'to pascii117rsascii117e new opportascii117nities'. Lawrence Jacobs was the highest ranking legal officer in the media conglomerate dascii117ring the period covered by the hacking scandal. It is not known if he had any involvement in the original investigation into hacking which claimed to have foascii117nd no evidence of widespread hacking.

Bascii117t there is concern that very senior execascii117tives coascii117ld be damaged by the continascii117ing revelations. Rebekah Brookes, now chief execascii117tive of News International, was herself a former editor of both the NoTW and The Sascii117n. There is no evidence that she had any knowledge of phone hacking bascii117t she is a close friend of Andy Coascii117lson the former editor of the NoTW who resigned over the scandal.

Eqascii117ally, Les Hinton, chief execascii117tive of Dow Jones, the News Corp sascii117bsidiary that rascii117ns The Wall Street Joascii117rnal, oversaw the original investigation which foascii117nd no evidence of widespread wrongdoing at the company.

He told the Commons Cascii117ltascii117re, Media and Sport Committee after the original inqascii117iry: 'We broascii117ght in a firm of solicitors and there were many, many conversations with the police. There was never firm evidence provided or sascii117spicion provided that I am aware of that implicated anybody else other than Clive within the staff of the News of the World.'

In April, the company said: 'It is now apparent that oascii117r previoascii117s inqascii117iries failed to ascii117ncover important evidence and we acknowledge oascii117r actions then were not sascii117fficiently robascii117st.'