Hacking: Power, Corruption and Lies Panorama

not just happen to celebrities but it happens to real people. Your

whole world is completely turned upside down. Even people under

police protection were not safe. For that information to get into the

hands of journalists is potentially putting people's lives at risk. For

years, police sat on the evidence that eventually brought down the

News of the World. While there are publicly denying it, you really do

get sick about that. Phone hacking the scandal covered by News

International for years. Now panorama reveals how police and

politicians let them get away with it. We were all being told what we

had was a democracy. In fact, we didn't have anything of the sort.

telephone messages. Hello, it is glamour. Just a quick one. Imagine

someone does it day after day after day. Put his number in. It will ask

you for the PIN number and then put his number back in and there are

three messages on there. Imagine it happening to you. On that shred of

paper, was David Beckham. Underneath that was my name. Which was quite

shocking, really. Colette has been violated. She would just be so

shocked if she was to know what went on after her death. This is a man

who secretly listened in on not just those lives of thousands of others.

Glenn Mulcaire. He's a frantic kind of character working very, very

hard. There was an example came out where he was hacking Kerry Katona on

Christmas Day. Rupert Murdoch's company paid him ?1 million to hack

for journalists. During that five years he was working for them, they

were tasking at least once every day, seven days a week for five

years. But one story changed everything. It laid bare just how

powerful and arrogant Rupert Murdoch's company had become. In

March 2002, a 13-year-old schoolgirl Milly Dowler was snatched as she

walked home from a sunny school. We are devastated, so desperately

worried. We just want to have Milly back home. So much. While her

parents made public pleas for their daughter 's safe return, Glenn

Mulcaire secretly hacked into her phone messages. He found one from a

recruitment agency in Shropshire, apparently offering her a job

interview. We are bringing because they have some interviews starting.

Can you call me back? Thanks, bye. The message convinced the News of

the World Milly was alive. You might imagine a normal human being with

any sense of feeling would say to the family, we have found Milly

Dowler, but they chose not to do that because this story was more

important to them than putting the family's mind at ease. It was just

the start for the News of the World now thought to have that exclusive.

It sent six reporters and photographers to Telford. When you

realise you have been targeted by them, it's intimidating. It's quite

frightening. In Telford, Mark and Cox and his mother ran the

recruitment agency which left the message on Milly Mackintosh phone,

and the message was never meant for Milly and they are dialled the wrong

number. Even though I knew she couldn't work for us as she was only

13, I felt sick that the News of the World was on the doorstep. Within

minutes of turning a reporter away from his home, Mark was surprised to

receive a call from one of the paper's most senior figures. I was

totally shocked to get a phone call from the managing editor of News of

the World. He truly believed that Milly Dowler was working for our

recruitment agency. The agency revealed there was no Milly Dowler

on their books. But it didn't stop attempts to

damage their business. A reporter approached the manager of their

biggest client on a golf course and told him they were employing

underage girls. He wasn't amused, as you can imagine, so he summoned me

and I can remember driving down there thinking all this hard work

that I've done, we're going to lose it all. Desperate to get their

story, the News of the World then played Milly's hacked message to

Surrey Police who were investigating her disappearance and printed its

content in early editions of the paper. It shows you so much about

the News of the World, not just the ruthless decision in the beginning

to keep that secret from the police, but then the arrogant aggression

that we can tell the police we are breaking the law and they won't

bother to enforce it and the worst thing of all, they were right.

Surrey Police accept the hacking of her phone should have been

investigated in 2002 of its yet to explain why it wasn't. In charge of

the News of the World that week was deputy editor Andy Coulson. If off

Rebekah Brooks was on holiday and said she never knew the paper had

listened to her messages. But it would take nine years for what the

News of the World did that week to be exposed. But News of the World

that the centre of new allegations of illegal phone hacking.

He had been shamed and humiliation, Rupert Murdoch. Do you apologise to

the family? What happened showed the newspaper Mac as content for the

law, the police and the family which appeared to be getting its way. This

was the ugly face of Rupert Murdoch's empire. After 168 years,

one of Britain's most famous newspapers were shut down in

disgrace. CHEERING

This is not what we wanted to be. This is not where we deserve to be.

By the end, many felt the paper got its just deserts. I think the News

of the World journalists grew incredibly arrogant. In the last

decade of the paper's life. Behind the rise of the News of the

World was the paper's owner, Rupert Murdoch, and his protege, Rebekah

Brooks. He was the brash Australian who took

Fleet Street by storm. What a short philosophy as proprietor a

newspaper? Sell as many of them as possible. Within 15 years, he bought

up some of its most famous titles including the Sun, and the News of

the World. His progress made easier when Margaret Thatcher bypassed

rules on media ownership. By the late 80s, Rebekah Brooks had got her

first job in newspapers. Tabloid reporter Charles Ray remembers her

well. Obviously the best you spot straight off was the hair. It is the

best hey I've seen on anybody, you know, just fantastic. She joined the

News of the World as a researcher age 21. Her rise was meteoric.

Deputy editor of the News of the World at 27. Deputy editor of the

Sun at 29. And that was just the beginning. She had this remarkable

capacity to engage with anyone and the more powerful they were, the

more clever she was at finding some links to them. She was a political

animal. She was able to collect the right sort of people. Rebekah Brooks

and Rupert Murdoch were made for each other. She was a problem

solver. That's fantastically good for any boss. Together, they would

wield enormous political influence. Politicians craved their backing.

After four election defeats, Labour wanted some Murdoch magic. Have you

come halfway around the world to talk to Rupert Murdoch? It's

important obviously because this is a major media outlet. The Leader of

the Opposition was determined to have his moment in the sun. There

was a lot of hostility in the past. It's important the Labour Party

makes the case as to why in a world of very great change, we're the best

people to handle that change. But some Labour colleagues doubted the

wisdom of courting Rupert Murdoch. I don't trust the Sun, Murdoch and his

outfit. I was always against a cosy professional relationship but always

suggested it was more than that with the implication that we can help you

win the election. It has helped Tony Blair calculated he couldn't do

without. His strategy landed him in political coup. This was the

beginning of ink and incredibly incestuous close relationship

between senior politicians and senior journalists particular on

News International. Some senior journalists there broke the law to

get stories. Their editor, Rebekah Brooks, needed only to rely on her

charm. Why New Labour settled into power, she settled in for a cosy

dinners with the new Prime Minister and his Chancellor. It became clear

that Rebekah Brooks would have a dinner with Gordon Brown, tell him

certain information about what she thinks Blair has told her, he would

have a go at me. Then Blair would have a dinner and have a go at me

for what Gordon was supposed to be doing. She was playing them off. It

was detestable if you believe that journalism is about telling the

truth. For her, it became a form of social ascent. It is not just

whether they write the story. They are actively involved, playing a

part in the politics and she was at the centre of it. News International

seduced politicians with a tantalising promise of support. But

it's journalists have the power to make or break careers. At the News

of the World, private detectives were being used to dig up the most

confidential and sensitive of personal information. The journalist

will act on a tip, give it to the newsdesk, who will have certain

contacts who will maybe have access to bank account details, phone

accounts. They will come back and say, yes, you're right, write it.

One man who would thrive in that culture was Andy Coulson. He was a

deputy at use of the world and Rebekah Brooks's Sigrid lover. He

was another rising News International staff. His background

was in showbiz reporting and it was an agenda his editor was keen to

pursue. Andy Coulson had for years been the Sun's showbiz reporter and

editor, which he was not shy of boasting about on children's TV. I

got to interview all the big names, such as Madonna, the Spice Girls.

Elton John. Sean Hall worked with Andy Coulson at the Sun in the 1990s

and for him at the News of the World in 2000 -- 2001. He claims he was

familiar with the use of private detectives. I am sure he was aware

of those practices. At the end of the day, such was the cultural, we

were there to deliver. -- such was the culture. How journalists on the

News of the World and the tabloids were getting stories was already a

concern to Scotland Yard. Surveillance during a murder enquiry

in 1999 revealed leaks between tabloids, including use of the

world, and a private eye business with criminal connections. It seemed

like a little cosy conspiracy between journalists, ex-police

officers, private detectives and serving officers. The firm was being

used to channel payments from newspapers to corrupt police

officers for leaks about celebrities and ongoing police investigations. I

propose that we ought to investigate because my view was, these people I

described, and others described, as active corrupters of police

officers, it was straightforward and uncomplicated and I expected the net

to say, yes, we should do this. I find they were very reticent to do

that. He says this man, his then boss, said no - an investigation

would be too risky and complex. At the time I felt he was making a

heartfelt and honest assessment of the situation and the risks to the

Metropolitan Police of investigating national newspapers. We tried to ask

Andy Hayman about this but he did not want to respond. In court,

Rebekah Brooks said the News of the World had lots of private detectives

to track down paedophiles as part of her campaign to name and shame

convicted sex offenders after the murder of Sarah Payne. The paper is

on the side of protecting children and not paedophiles and I believe

the public are behind us. What kind of private detectives was the News

of the World hiring? Hello, it is Glenn Mulcaire. One private

investigator was Glenn Mulcaire, a former footballer. He started

working for the News of the World in the late 1990s. Journalist Nick

Davies believes he was hacking into phones even then. By around 97, 98,

he has come up with the voice mail trick. I do not know where he got it

from. He starts doing it for News of the World as early as 97, 98. By

2001, Glenn Mulcaire had a five-year contract and ended up being paid

more than ?100,000 a year. Rebekah Brooks said in court she did not

know he was working for the paper. In 2003, Rebekah Brooks landed the

biggest job in tabloid newspapers - editor of the Sun. Just two months

later, she let slip that News International would go as far as

paying police officers. Just the one element, of the ever paid police for

information? We had paid police for information in the past. Would you

do it in the future? If there is a clear public interest, the same

holds for private detectives, such abuse, whatever. -- subterfuge. I

thought they made an amazing and extraordinary confession. I said

that we do it within the law. Everybody thought, my God, what have

you done? You have stirred up a hornet's nest. The MPs' efforts to

stir it up even more fell on deaf ears. I try to raise it with

newspapers but nobody was running it. I tried raising it with other

members of the committee but they were not interested. I tried raising

it with successive home secretaries, they simply batted it off and said

it was up to the police to investigate.

I raised it with the police, they wouldn't touch it.

Tony Blair came to power in 2005 with, once again, the backing of the

Murdoch machine. But the following year, there are rumblings of

discontent within the Labour Party. A group of MPs wanted Tony Blair to

make it clear when he would stand aside for Gordon Brown. They were

branded a gang of weasels by Rebekah Brooks's the Sun. There was a more

sinister and intimidating element, the sense that the News

International newspapers were in one political camp and that was Tony

Blair's. At the News of the World, Andy Coulson was now editor.

Reporters were under increasing pressure to deliver exclusives.

People were scared. If you've got to get a story, you've got to get it

and you've got to get up by whatever means. Andy Coulson's editorship has

been described as the era of industrial phone hacking. At the

heart of it, Glenn Mulcaire. No one, it seems, was off-limits. 7/7

casualties... Murder victims... Hacking doesn't just happen to

celebrities. It happens a lot to real people. Your whole world is

completely turned upside down. Patricia banal's daughter, Claire,

worked as a beauty consultant at Harvey Nichols in London. In 2005

she was so dead in the store by a stalker. -- shot dead. That same

day, her murder, the News of the World stuffed a packet of cash

through the family's letterbox seeking an interview. 24 hours

later, Glenn Mulcaire hacked into Claire's phone. Glenn Mulcaire had

been told to gather information a day after her death. They had access

to my dead daughter, and to me, that was just the most distressing thing.

They would have her personal messages. Claire was a very private

person and I will always feel angry about that. Claire's mother knew

nothing about her daughter's phone being hacked until police told her

six years later. If they talk about their own families, their own

children, to cross that line and to do what they did, it's obscene. Did

Andy Coulson no hacking was endemic? He claimed he didn't at his trial,

but he finally did admit for the first time that he knew it had

happened. In 2004, his chief reporter, Neville Thurlbeck, played

him intimate recordings left by David Blunkett, who was then Home

Secretary, to Mr Blunkett's then lover. Andy Coulson told the court

he did not know accessing the messages was illegal, but he was

shocked and angry that Neville Thurlbeck had hacked them and told

him to stop immediately. But that didn't stop Andy Coulson travelling

up to Sheffield to confront David Blunkett about the affair.

up to Sheffield to confront David It became very clear to me that

something very strange had been going on. It never crossed David

Blunkett's mind he was a victim of hacking, believing he had been

betrayed by someone close to him. But Andy Coulson gave nothing away.

He was not prepared, not only to give any kind of indication of where

he had obtained the information from, but any legitimacy in terms of

the process he'd adopted. Despite promising he wouldn't damage, two

days later the story was splashed all over the News of the World's

FrontPage. The Cabinet Ministers became tabloid fodder and resign

four months later. -- Cabinet Minister. Later, in a News of the

World safe, voice recordings from David Blunkett to his lover were

found. I came as close as I could to a breakdown without having one. It

probably took the two years to recover. The News of the World had

not named his lover about the next day, Rebekah Brooks's the Sun did.

Even that did not stop him socialising with its editor. I did

not regret that because it did have nothing to do with my willingness to

have a sensible and friendly relationship with them. David

Blunkett was later hired by the Sun as a columnist and became a paid

adviser to News International on social responsibility. By 2005, the

News of the World's FrontPage exclusives had won Andy Coulson

newspaper of the year. But then a small story by the Royal editor,

Clive editor, sowed the seeds of its downfall. Royal aides had long

suspected their phones were being hacked. The story of Prince

William's knee injury confirmed that. The information could only

have come from their phones. They were tripping the alarm bell in the

one group of people in this country that had so much prestige that the

police would not ignore it. It is the Royal family and they would go

after it. Within the past hour, two men have been charged with

intercepting voice Bill messages... Clive Goodman and Glenn Mulcaire

both pleaded guilty and both were jailed. Editor Andy Coulson said he

took responsibility and he resigned. News International said their royal

editor was a lone wolf, a rogue reporter. It was 2007, four years

before the funeral over phone hacking properly erupted but the

judge seemed convinced even then that Glenn Mulcaire had been working

with others at News International because he admitted to having hacked

the phones of five other people, none of whom had any connection with

the Royal family. The Metropolitan Police new and much more besides and

had already found the names of 400 hacking target in Glenn Mulcaire

Makkah boss notebooks. He's making notes about who he is talking to and

the mobile phone companies and so he doesn't lose track, he got into the

habit of writing down the first name of whoever it was had asked him in

the top left-hand corner. There was a line of clues. James, Greg,

Neville. His notes are really the hand grenade in the middle of it.

The names on the list included victims of crime, celebrities,

politicians, even the Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott. The

Metropolitan Police told lawyers reporting to the direct republic

prosecutions there was no evidence the phone hacking conspiracy went

further. If we had known the truth that, in fact, the police were in

possession of evidence that this went much wider, we would've acted

upon that. If there were officers who knew the answers were incorrect,

it was reprehensible of them to keep quiet about it. Their

counterterrorism unit was heading the investigation in what was the

busiest period in its history. The 11,000 pages seized from Glenn

Mulcaire were not top priority. As soon as they realised it went much

wider it should have been passed to the specialist crime directorate

because they were far more of a fit with what they were doing than with

what antiterrorism and royalty protection were doing. The case

stayed with counterterrorism. Its boss's job involves having good

relations with the media. But now the unit was investigating crimes by

the media. I sense that there were relationships which had become quite

personal. Because of the amount of interaction I think some of them

were very much in a social setting. And I think that does create

difficulties. Andy Heymann was not in day-to-day charge of the

investigation but he was briefed about its progress. Before the

Metropolitan Police knew the full extent of Glenn Mulcaire's

activities, Andy Heymann had dinner with Andy Coulson and another senior

executive from the News of the World. Not to have that dinner, I

think would've been potentially more suspicious than to have it.

Suspicious? I don't know why you are laughing. Because the astonished.

I'm sorry. All I can say to you is this, we never ever had a

conversation which would compromise an investigation. This initial phone

hacking investigation could potentially lead to people very high

up in the organisation being accused of criminal offences. For those very

people to be meeting with senior officers, who ultimately were

responsible for that investigation, is totally inappropriate. Andy

Heymann's job meant it was a frequent visitor to Downing Street.

When Glenn Mulcaire and Clive Goodman were arrested, the acting

Prime Minister was John Prescott. Yet he was never told his name was

in Glenn Mulcaire's notes. He never told me. It's clear he knew all the

time. To be working next to the guy who's done the investigation, who's

got all the information, working with me on security matters, doesn't

turn to me and say, watch your phone for the watch your messages. Andy

Heymann wouldn't respond to us and has said he saw a list of names in

Glenn Mulcaire's notes but there was no clear evidence more than a

handful had been hacked. The police didn't breathe a word to John

Prescott about him being a target of phone hacking. But there was someone

they told, astonishingly, Rebekah Brooks. Not only do they tell about

John Prescott, they also told her she had been targeted and much more

besides. They had a list of around 100 victims but were unlikely to

look at any other suspects without a direct evidence. It shouldn't have

happened because I think the organisation is certainly about time

had to be seen as a potential suspect because the Metropolitan

Police had not unravel the mystery of who was involved, and we would've

expected them to be very cautious. They have now apologised for failing

to contact all those who had been targeted including some of its own

senior officers. But it still haven't explained why it didn't do

so. The difficulty for The Met is, by not answering that question, it

allows people to speculate Fulford it allows people to say, well, but

obviously because they want to cover the whole thing up. After his

resignation from the News of the World over the Royal phone hacking,

Andy Coulson was hired as head of communications for the Conservative

Party. He had been recommended for the job by George Osborne, David

Cameron's closest ally. I remember a lot of people mentioning what an

unwise decision it was by Cameron to hire this

unwise decision it was by Cameron to Andy Coulson. The political sand was

again shifting. David Cameron, like Tony Blair before him, was keen to

have his moment in the sun. This time, Rupert Murdoch's yacht was

anchored off the coast of a Greek island of Santorini. Rebekah Brooks

was there, too. From my point of view, it was just an opportunity to

try to get to know Rupert Murdoch better. Obviously, I was trying to

win over his newspapers and put across my opinion so, for me, it was

an opportunity to build a relationship. Although Rupert

Murdoch seemed indifferent to the fact David Cameron, who diverted

from the family holiday, had made the effort. Mr Cameron may have come

to Santa really, to impress me. -- Santorini. Greece was worth Rupert

Murdoch Makkah boss daughter celebrated their 40th. Rebekah

Brooks paid tribute to getting the special edition of the Sun newspaper

mocked up. Soon afterwards, Rebekah Brooks moved here down the road from

David Cameron in Oxfordshire Bulldog she married his friend, the

racehorse trainer, Charlie Brooks, and Liz Murdoch lived nearby, two

and together they became known as the Chipping Norton set. It is

almost as if the media and politicians merged. The Murdoch

empire and politicians merged. Rebekah Brooks was almost a member

of the Shadow Cabinet. We got to know each other because of her Royal

in the media and my role in politics because we struck up a French but

obviously a la French got stronger when she married Charlie Brooks, who

are known for a long time and who is a neighbour. Did you often pop

around each other's houses in South Oxfordshire? No, often popping round

is definitely overstating the case. We occasionally met in the

countryside but it was because I was there every weekend and he was there

in his constituency. And David Cameron would also meet Rupert

Murdoch's son, James. He told David Cameron the sun would back him at

the 2010 general election. As the election date drew nearer, David

Cameron and Rebekah Brooks, now Chief Executive of News

International, grew closer. I think, as we get closer to the election and

the decision of the Sun newspaper, then the level of contact went up,

and we saw each other socially. More. On a Sunday, Dave could be out

trying to learn what it's like to be an ordinary Joe. What it's like to

be a normal person on a Sunday, and what easy doing? Is over there

having a glass of champagne with Rebekah at some party among the

Chipping Sodbury, or whatever they're called, set. That would also

be numerous texts between them. Before he gave a speech to a party

conference in 2009, Rebekah Brooks wrote... I am so rooting for you,

not just as a proud friend but because professionally, we're in

this together. The speech of your life? Yes, he can. It showed a level

of intimacy entirely inappropriate. I think that, for him to allow

someone like that to be so close was a serious misjudgement. Everybody

wants to know how is text messages are signed off. Can you help?

Occasionally, he would find them off, " lots of love". Into light

tells it meant laugh out loud and then he didn't do that any more.

David Cameron has accepted politicians and the media got too

close. But he says neither he nor his policies were influenced by

support from News International. The Murdoch company had kept a lid

on the hacking scandal by paying off those who discovered they had been

targeted. But, in 2009, the Guardian made one other settlements public

and revealed News International journalists had selected hundreds of

people for phone hacking. The Met asked John Yates to see if a fresh

investigation was needed. He launched an enquiry the next

morning. It was over by tea-time. No additional evidence has come to

light since this case has concluded. I therefore consider no further

investigation is required. The News International say it doesn't matter.

The cops sitting on that information, guy with a straight up

edition, comes out and says it and it gives you a cold feeling in the

pit of your stomach. The man who had been in overall charge of the

original investigation former Assistant Commissioner Andy Heymann,

was, by now, a columnist for News International. He wrote in The Times

the investigation had left no stone unturned. But we have established

that investigation showed Glenn Mulcaire had obtained far more

sensitive information than The Met had ever admitted. The details of

people on the national witness protection scheme. The witness

protection scheme is a very expensive operation to give people

who've been convicted very serious offences and people who are very

vulnerable witnesses, to give them a completely new identity so they can

have a completely fresh start. For that information to get into the

hands of journalists is potentially putting people 's lives at risk.

Glenn Mulcaire had got the new identities of four of the most

notorious names in British criminal history. Including Mary Bell and

Robert Thomson, one of the killers of James Bolger. He had been granted

a High Court injunction to keep his new identity secret. I would've

expected an immediate and thorough investigation to identify how that

information had got into the public domain and who was responsible for

it, so that we could restore confidence in the witness protection

scheme. The News of the World had already printed several articles

about Robert Thompson's new life. Now The Met new Glenn Mulcaire had

his and others' new identities. I would be surprised if something that

sensitivity was not briefed up the command chain to very senior levels.

The Met says Glenn Mulcaire got the information I hacking the phones of

people close to those in witness protection. It says it found no

evidence he paid police officers for the information and has confirmed no

further action was taken. But this was so serious you would expect that

the News of the World and Glenn Mulcaire would've been reported to

the Attorney General. They were not. The Attorney General has confirmed

panorama he is now considering whether to take action. Other

evidence from the original police investigation was continuing to be

unearthed. Including the transcript of a hacked call marked for the News

of the World's Chief Reporter, Neville Thurlbeck. John Yates, the

man who decided not to reopen the investigation, was again on the

spot. Business evidence of an offence being committed. There is no

evidence that reading the document is an offence. There was clearly

evident staring him in the face. Had he bothered to look at it. I can

only assume he didn't want to see the evidence so he could give the

committee the denial he did. John Yates says his decision to reopen

the enquiry was supported by The Met Machover 's own legal advice and has

told us he was never briefed about the witness protection scheme being

compromised and says he may well have come to a different conclusion

if he had been. Neville Thurlbeck later told Tom Watson that News

International put him and fellow MPs on the Select Committee under

surveillance. He said we broke you down into twos and wanted to find

out who was gay, who was having an affair. They wanted to find

everything about committee members which could only be to apply private

pressure on individuals. The paper also followed the families of the

lawyers suing it over hacking. To film my 14-year-old daughter is

deprave. Where was that found? In the offices of the News of the

World. My children were two and four at the time and the fear surrounding

that Andy upset for my family is something that I think is pretty

unforgivable. In May, 2010, the election that David Cameron in

Downing Street with Andy Coulson alongside, now the government's head

of communications. Lord Prescott had already warned David Cameron wants

against hiring Andy Coulson and was astonished. When he appointed him I

reminded him publicly that I had warned him about it. It was the

second morning. I said, you will live to regret it. Andy Coulson had

yet to be given the highest security clearance usually applied to those

working in his position. That is very surprising, given he was at the

heart of government and close to the Prime Minister. It does seem very

difficult to explain. David Cameron has said that Andy Coulson was given

the appropriate level of security clearance when he was appointed.

Sean Hall was about of a con the first former News of the World

journalist to go on the record. -- was about to become. He was about to

be hung out to dry, which I thought was wrong. Knowing the culture in

the establishment and how it operates, I just felt a sense of

injustice at the end of the day. In September, 2010, he told the New

York Times that his old friend Andy Coulson must have known about phone

hacking at the News of the World. That was the moment I think within

Scotland Yard where people started asking questions and politically it

had an effect. When police interviewed Sean, he was surprised

to be treated not as a witness but a suspect, so he told them nothing.

When I was interviewed by by the Met, Scotland Yard, they asked me a

series of questions and I decided to exercise my right of no comment.

News International have already used his problems with drink and drugs to

discredit him. To take an individual and then try to chop him down the

way they did Sean I think is unforgivable. Sean Mackle one died

in 2011, so he never got to see Andy Coulson stand trial. -- Sean Mackle

one. -- Sean Hoare. What had started as a newspaper scandal had now

reached deep into David Cameron's Number Ten. People had tried to tell

him about a get he disregarded the advice. And so, he associated

himself with a group of people who had been part of a criminal

conspiracy. He showed wretched judgement and it will permanently

damage his reputation as British Prime Minister. David Cameron has

said he had accepted the consistent assurances given by Andy Coulson

that he had no involvement in phone hacking. News International wanted

to save its own reputation. After years of denying phone hacking it

finally handed over evidence to police. By then the Met had launched

a new enquiry. It would properly scrutinise the documents seized from

Glenn Mulcaire years before. I was the first lawyer to see the papers

so I was very excited. Many hacking victims were celebrities. The media

lawyer represented some of them, including Leslie Ash, who is married

name is Chapman. The officer showed me the papers. It said Leslie

Chapman, and then it had an address, it said full, and there was

a postcode. But it was not about the actress. I looked at it and I said,

it says Soham, and Leslie Chapman was one of the murdered girl 's'

father. This was a victim of crime. With increasing evidence of serious

criminal activity, the scandal was now a threat to the wider Murdoch

empire. This did not stop News International going ahead with its

annual summer party and, as usual, many of the most powerful people in

Britain turned up to rub shoulders with Rupert and Rebecca. -- Rebekah

Brooks. Turn to your right and you see a Bishop, 20 right you would see

David Cameron. Then you would see Ed Balls, Ed Miliband. As rain brought

the party to an early close, one family was learning just how far his

newspapers would go to get a story. The Dowler family were finally told

by police that Milly Dowler's phone had been hacked. They realise it was

serious. They realised the game was up. It was not possible to tell

ally. It was no longer possible to say it was a rogue reporter. There

was a moment of catharsis where people said, yes, there was

something very ugly in British public life that had gone wrong and

that must never happen again. The government reacted to the outcry by

setting up a massive public enquiry here at the Royal Courts of just

into the rot at the heart of the British press and the relationship

between politicians and police. What Lord Leveson wanted to know was what

had gone wrong and who knew what and when. I happened to be by the

swimming pool with very close friends that I was on holiday with.

The conversation did not take very long. In 2006, Tessa Jowell was

Culture Secretary, responsible for media regulation, when police rang

and said she had been hacked by News International. She told Lord Leveson

she informed some of her Cabinet colleagues. Their rich reaction --

their reaction was also one of shock, but sympathy and concern for

me. They are people who are friends as much as they were then

distinguished members of the Cabinet. Panorama has asked Tessa

Jowell who she told in Cabinet. She says she can't remember. So, who was

told? We understand the police briefed the Home Office, the Cabinet

Office and MI5 about their investigation. My expectation would

be ministers and potentially be Home Secretary would be briefed on that

type of investigation, because of its indications that had chilli for

national security. The then Home Secretary, John Reid, has said he

wasn't briefed about the investigation. So, who in Cabinet

did no? John Prescott wasn't told by the police but Tessa Jowell was. She

told some colleagues. So, did Tony Blair no? I find it very difficult

to believe that if those ministers in 2006 happen to have knowledge

they did not tell Tony Blair. He must answer for what he knew and

what conversations he had with people. If he did know and had not

been told, I would be surprised. You will have to ask him. We did. He

told us that as far as he can recall, he knew nothing about the

details of the hacking enquiry or who may have been targeted. Whoever

actually knew, no member of the Cabinet admitted in public to

knowledge that phone hacking went wider than what had been disclosed.

The day after the Milly Dowler story broke, Tony Blair e-mailed Rebekah

Brooks saying, let me know if there is anything I can do to help.

Thinking of you. I have been through things like this. It emerged in

court that Rebekah Brooks called Tony Blair, taking him up on his

offer of support. In an hour-long phone call, Tony Blair told Rebekah

Brooks to keep strong, tough up, and he even offered to act as an

official adviser to her and the Murdochs on a "between us" basis.

His advice, set up and enquiry headed by the former rector of

public prosecutions, Ken MacDonald. I politely declined. Surely Tony

Blair should have phoned the Dowler family and said, is there anything I

can do to help? His interest was not in helping people, it was an

interest in helping his small clique of friends. In a statement Tony

Blair told us he is not a fair weather friend. His advice to

Rebekah Brooks was informal. He knew nothing about the facts of the case

but thought it essential to have a fully transparent and independent

process to get to the bottom of what had happened. Four days later,

Rupert Murdoch flew into London to apologise to the Dowler family. Did

you apologise? Suddenly, nobody wants to be Rupert Murdoch friend.

Rupert Murdoch's friend. All those politicians said, we never really

trusted the guy. Rupert Murdoch withdrew his bid for full ownership

of BSkyB, the first challenge to his 45 year March through the British

media. At Scotland Yard, the Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson

resigned, as did John Yates. But questions remain for the Met. It was

a failure, whatever way you dress it up. We have to be confident that the

police can act without fear or favour if there are doubts about the

thoroughness of an investigation. It is probably appropriate that an

outside force or Her Majesty's inspectorate come in and make sure

it is done to the standard we all expect. Andy Coulson is now

condemned as the tabloid editor who built his career on the systematic

criminal hacking of hundreds of people's films. But questions remain

about how he went on to work at the heart of government. I was given

assurances that he did not know about phone hacking. That turns out

not to be the case. I was always clear if that happened, I would

apologise, and I do so unreservedly today. David Cameron's former spin

doctor is now facing prison, as is the man who hacked phones for him,

Glenn Mulcaire. He had already pleaded guilty, along with former

journalists from the News of the World. The police and the judiciary

have finally moved on and done their job. But, it would be a mistake to

think that the problems which we were exposing have actually been

solved. The hacking scandal has revealed that four years,

politicians, police and the press enjoyed far too close a

relationship. So close, it seems widespread criminality was

overlooked. Authorities on both sides of the Atlantic are

considering corporate prosecutions against Rupert Murdoch's Empire and

with other papers under investigation, the hacking scandal

is far from over.