Another arrest in UK hacking scandal
Source: Agencies |
August 19, 2011, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
BRITISH police made a new arrest yesterday in the country's tabloid phone hacking scandal, while an actress and her ex-soccer player husband announced they had agreed to a settlement with the now-defunct News of The World tabloid.
Police in London confirmed a 38-year-old man, who they did not name, was arrested at a London police station after he arrived voluntarily yesterday. He is the 13th person to be arrested so far in the saga.
Britain's Guardian newspaper reported the man was James Desborough, formerly the Los Angeles-based United States editor for the News of the World. The newspaper claimed that his arrest was related to activities that took place before he moved to the US.
News International, the British division of Murdoch's News Corp empire that owned the tabloid, declined to confirm that Desborough was the suspect being questioned.
"We are fully cooperating with the police investigation and we are unable to comment further," News International said in a statement.
In a separate development, lawyers for British television actress Leslie Ash and former soccer player Lee Chapman confirmed they had resolved their legal action against the News of The World.
The tabloid's parent company had "agreed to pay our family an appropriate sum by way of compensation and costs and it has apologized for the harm and distress it has caused us," the couple said in a statement.
But the couple indicated they plan to sue other British newspapers over allegations that their phone messages - and those of their children - may have been illegally accessed.
"We remain concerned that the practices complained of against NGN (News Group Newspapers) are likely to have been prevalent within other publishers, and will be instructing our lawyer ... to take action against other newspapers," they said.
Ash and Chapman had been the subject of frequent tabloid stories after the actress suffered health problems and won a then-record 5 million pounds (US$8.25 million) compensation payment from a London hospital after contracting an infection during treatment there.
The couple said they believed their messages were intercepted in 2004 while Ash was in the hospital.
Meanwhile, correspondence published on Tuesday by British lawmakers suggested executives were warned more than four years ago that phone hacking was endemic at the News of the World. The company had previously insisted the practice was not widespread.
The charges were made in a 2007 letter written by Clive Goodman, a former journalist with the newspaper whose jailing in 2007 on phone hacking charges first brought the practice into the spotlight.
Police in London confirmed a 38-year-old man, who they did not name, was arrested at a London police station after he arrived voluntarily yesterday. He is the 13th person to be arrested so far in the saga.
Britain's Guardian newspaper reported the man was James Desborough, formerly the Los Angeles-based United States editor for the News of the World. The newspaper claimed that his arrest was related to activities that took place before he moved to the US.
News International, the British division of Murdoch's News Corp empire that owned the tabloid, declined to confirm that Desborough was the suspect being questioned.
"We are fully cooperating with the police investigation and we are unable to comment further," News International said in a statement.
In a separate development, lawyers for British television actress Leslie Ash and former soccer player Lee Chapman confirmed they had resolved their legal action against the News of The World.
The tabloid's parent company had "agreed to pay our family an appropriate sum by way of compensation and costs and it has apologized for the harm and distress it has caused us," the couple said in a statement.
But the couple indicated they plan to sue other British newspapers over allegations that their phone messages - and those of their children - may have been illegally accessed.
"We remain concerned that the practices complained of against NGN (News Group Newspapers) are likely to have been prevalent within other publishers, and will be instructing our lawyer ... to take action against other newspapers," they said.
Ash and Chapman had been the subject of frequent tabloid stories after the actress suffered health problems and won a then-record 5 million pounds (US$8.25 million) compensation payment from a London hospital after contracting an infection during treatment there.
The couple said they believed their messages were intercepted in 2004 while Ash was in the hospital.
Meanwhile, correspondence published on Tuesday by British lawmakers suggested executives were warned more than four years ago that phone hacking was endemic at the News of the World. The company had previously insisted the practice was not widespread.
The charges were made in a 2007 letter written by Clive Goodman, a former journalist with the newspaper whose jailing in 2007 on phone hacking charges first brought the practice into the spotlight.
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