Letter reopens hacking scandal

LONDON: Rupert Murdoch, his son James, and David Cameron's former communications adviser, Andy Coulson, have been further embroiled in the phone-hacking scandal that plagues News Corporation and its British subsidiary, as a letter was published accusing Mr Coulson and senior editors of being in full knowledge of phone hacking as far back as 2006.

The letter from Clive Goodman, the former royal reporter at the News of the World, the now-defunct tabloid newspaper, to the head of human resources at News International was written four years ago but only published yesterday. In it Mr Goodman claimed that contrary to denials by Mr Coulson and other senior executives, the practice of phone hacking ''was widely discussed in the daily editorial conference, until explicit reference to it was banned by the Editor [Coulson]''.

Mr Goodman was jailed along with a private detective, Glenn Mulcaire, in 2007 for phone hacking. In the letter he asserted that Coulson and Tom Crone, the former legal manager at News International, had ''promised on many occasions that I could come back to a job at the newspaper if I did not implicate the paper or any of its staff in my mitigation plea. I did not, and I expect the paper to honour its promise to me''.

Mr Goodman claimed his own hacking was carried out with ''the full knowledge and support'' of other senior journalists, whose names were blocked out.

Tom Watson, the Labour MP who has campaigned against phone hacking, told The Guardian, which first published the letter: ''Clive Goodman's letter is the most significant piece of evidence that has been revealed so far. It completely removes News International's defence. This is one of the largest cover-ups I have seen in my lifetime.''

In writing the letter, Mr Goodman was seeking damages in an unfair dismissal claim. In a statement yesterday, News International said it recognised the seriousness of the allegations and was committed to working in an ''open and constructive'' way with police and Parliament.

The revelations that Mr Coulson not only knew about the phone hacking but had sanctioned it will put further pressure on the Prime Minister, David Cameron, who employed Mr Coulson on the basis that he knew nothing about the scandal. Mr Coulson resigned as Mr Cameron's head of communications in January despite continuing to deny any knowledge of the hacking, and Mr Cameron's public support for him.

The Goodman letter emerged as the parliamentary select committee for culture, media and sport announced that James Murdoch, the deputy chief operating officer of News Corporation, is likely to be recalled to Parliament to explain what he knew about the phone-hacking scandal at News of the World.

The committee published documents that it said cast serious doubt on evidence it received from Mr Murdoch, and the head of the committee, John Whittingdale, said Mr Murdoch was likely to be recalled. The committee had asked for new responses after Mr Murdoch's testimony last month was called into question by two executives and a former lawyer at News International.

Testifying with his father, Rupert, who is the chairman and chief executive of News Corporation, James Murdoch told the committee on July 19 that he had not known until late last year that phone hacking was widespread at the newspaper.

But Tom Crone, a former lawyer at the News of the World, and Colin Myler, a former editor, disputed this in later submissions to the committee that were published yesterday, saying he and Mr Myler had told Mr Murdoch in 2008 about an email that implicated more reporters in the scandal. Jonathan Chapman, a former lawyer at News International, also complained of ''serious inaccuries'' in Mr Murdoch's testimony.