This entry was posted on
Tuesday, July 12th, 2011 at
3:13 pm and is filed
under Old Media, Rupert ‘The Evil One’ Murdoch, Tories! Tories! Tories!.
There’s a lot of coverage about and fresh revelations are emerging left, right and centre, so I wanted to make this article about Robert Thompson, News of the World, and Murdochian antics a bit different. That’s why I turned it into a comic strip starring some pretend scientists from Miami. Enjoy.
In other news, Nadine Dorries is making some wild claims in an effort to convince us that she’s part of the story, while Andy Hayman has been issuing some theatrical denials to convince us that he’s not.
Apropos of nothing, here are two articles from my vaults about Andy Coulson, the former tabloid editor who dreamed of greater power, and Andy Hayman, the former police officer who dreamed of one day being a journalist:
Andy Coulson and Andy Hayman: Friends
Andy Coulson: innocent until proven guilty
Oh, and if you’re looking for news that doesn’t even remotely involve the implosion of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, then I can recommend this post about Christopher McGrath and sock puppetry and/or this post about ‘David Rose’ and sock puppetry. Back soon(ish) with some more that I’ve found by browsing through News of the World archives at Colindale.
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UPDATE (28 Aug, 2011) – Metro – James Bulger’s killer Robert Thompson ‘had phone hacked by NOTW’: Metropolitan Police officers working on Operation Weeting have contacted Thompson to let him know his details were found in documents they examined as part of the phone hacking investigation. Detectives believe Thompson and people close to him may have had their voicemail intercepted by an investigator working for the tabloid, reports the Sunday Times.
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UPDATE (20 Feb, 2012) – Telegraph – Bulger killer could be in line for compensation from News of the World – Lawyers acting for Robert Thompson, 29, have informed Scotland Yard that they plan to take legal action that could see the killer paid tens of thousands of pounds in compensation. The action was started after the team from Operation Weeting informed Thomson that his voice mails had been targeted between 2002 and 2007… It is thought that Thompson was informed by the Operation Weeting team in August last year that they had uncovered evidence that his phone had been hacked on several occasions after 2002. References to him were found in notebooks seized from Glenn Mulcaire, 41, a private investigator working for the News of the World who was jailed in January 2007 for intercepting the phone calls of royal aides.
Outrage about compensation going to a convicted killer appears to be overshadowing the really important questions here (including ‘When will we see someone charged with contempt of court?’):
Hacked Off – If a Bulger killer was hacked, how did Mulcaire get his top secret number?: Robert Thompson was living under a secret and protected identity when Glenn Mulcaire acquired his mobile number, apparently in 2002. He had been released from detention only months earlier and, after many threats to his life, was one of the handful of people in the whole country most at risk from violent attack. How did the News of the World penetrate the official security around him? Very few people can have known both his phone number and his real identity, and all of them must have been in positions of trust. The Mirror and the Telegraph don’t seem to be interested in whether one of these people betrayed that trust, or indeed in whether money changed hands. And there are other questions, which may be more alarming still. If Mulcaire could get through that protective barrier, who else could, was anybody else hacked, and were people placed in danger?
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By Jimmy July 13, 2011 - 2:52 am
You do realise that spotting this will, in some deeply unpleasant and wholly fictional way, lead to your being accused of coddling a child killer?
Nevertheless, excellent work Holmes.
By Sarah July 13, 2011 - 2:05 pm
If this is true, I doubt Thompson or his legal team are going to make a fuss. This is one instance where it is clearly in the interest of the alleged hacking victim NOT to kick up a stink!
By Tim_Ireland July 13, 2011 - 2:12 pm
I'm not sure I agree, but in any case, this event is distinct from other alleged hacking incidents because of the relevant court orders; Thompson shouldn't have to make a fuss for the law to act.
By Sarah July 13, 2011 - 4:23 pm
Understand that. So you are saying that rather than Thompson being the instigator of any legal challenge, the Attorney General could take it up as a Contempt of Court issue? I think there may be a statute of limitations on that though. Problem with the AG taking up any contempt case with Thompson (and Venables) is that it could theoretically verify a story. They are in a virtually impossible situation!
By Tim_Ireland July 13, 2011 - 5:25 pm
Broadly yes, but I'm not sufficiently qualified to vouch for any specifics.
By Sarah September 2, 2011 - 11:16 am
Seems you were right. According to new reports, Thompson did indeed have his phone hacked by the News of The World. This is deeply disturbing – seems the screws and their associates simply did not believe the law applied to them.