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Phone Hacking: Goodman Letter Reveals 'Everyone Knew”

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Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch and Andy Coulson face fresh embarrassment after an explosive letter from former News of the World Royal Correspondent, Clive Goodman was published today.

The four-year-old letter was only published on Tuesday, and it claims that phone hacking was “widely discussed” at editorial meetings at the News of the World until Andy Coulson banned any future references to them.

Goodman went on to claim that Coulson said he could keep his job if he agreed not to implicate the paper in court and that his hacking had “the full knowledge and support” of other senior journalists, who he named.

The Murdochs may now be recalled to parliament to give more evidence in the light of Goodman’s letter. Rupert Murdoch said that Andy Coulson knew nothing about the hacking during the hearing.

The letter was published by the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee. One committee member, the Labour MP Tom Watson, said Goodman’s letter was “absolutely devastating.” He added: “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.”

Goodman’s letter is dated 2 March 2007, soon after he had served a four-month prison sentence. Addressed to News International’s Director of Human Resources, Daniel Cloke, Goodman writes: “This practice was widely discussed in the daily editorial conference, until explicit reference to it was banned by the editor.” He reveals that the paper’s then lawyer, Tom Crone, knew all the details of the case against him.

In another embarrassing allegation, he adds: “Tom Crone and the editor 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.”

Riots Update: Ealing Man Left Fighting For Life; Backlash Continues.

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A 68 year old Ealing resident is still fighting for this life today. Police have expressed worry for the pain who is still on life support. He was attacked on Tuesday after confronting rioters who had set fire to a bin. He was trying to put the fire out. He was attacked and has ‘savage’ head injuries that left the police unable to tell his age, he has since been identified and the police are looking for his family.

On Wednesday morning three young Asian men were knocked down and killed while trying to defend their properties. Police in Birmingham have launched a murder inquiry. A man was arrested and had his car impounded following the incident near a mosque in the Dudley road area.

The father on one of the victims, Haroon Jahan, 21, called for peace and asked for their no be no more violence or retribution for his son’s death. He stated that this was not a ‘race’ issue.

A spokesman for the West Midlands force said: “The incident took place close to the Jet filling station on Dudley Road in Winson Green at approximately 1.15am. Three ambulances, two rapid response vehicles and an incident support officer was sent to the scene.

“When crews arrived, they found around 80 people at the scene with resuscitation ongoing on three men. Crews used their advanced life support skills while police officers provided support.”

Violence in Birmingham on Tuesday was not as bad as Monday but it spread to West Bromwich and Wolverhampton. London was relatively calm after 16,000 police officers hit the street with rubber bullets.

Independent record labels and filmmakers have been left devastated after a fire destroyed a blaze in a Sony warehouse in Enfield. The Pias Group feared a ‘ruinous’ stock loss. The three-storey, 20,000 square-metre building in Enfield, owned by Sony DADC was burned to the ground.

The fire affected Domino and film production companies with DVD stock. Pias is the UK’s largest independent sales, marketing and distribution company.

Other labels that might be affected include 4AD, Warp and Beggars Banquet.

A on Pias’s website said: “There was a fire last night at the SonyDADC warehouse which services the physical distribution for Pias in the UK and Ireland. Pias is working closely with SonyDADC who are implementing their emergency plans. Pias’s UK offices in London and all other areas of our business are unaffected. More information will be communicated shortly to all our labels and partners.”

The release of Arctic Monkeys’ new single, The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala, was affected, all stock going to retail outlets had been destroyed in the fire.

There has been a lot of debate about the riots from various sources, including Darcus Howe, a West Indian Writer and Broadcaster. His controversial interview has been seen by millions of people.

I disagree with him on three counts, 1) Not all of the rioters were black 2) Working class white people are just as disenfranchised as blacks. 3) There is never any excuse for this behaviour, no matter where you are from.

The student who was mugged while bleeding has spoke of his ordeal. Ashraf Rossli said: “They threatened to stab me, they told me they had knives,”. The student from Malaysia only arrived in England a month ago.

He went on to say:

‘Some of them were quite young, maybe still in primary school. They had their hoods on and demanded my bicycle.’

In the YouTube video he is apparently helped to his feet by a Good Samaritan but the thieves took his wallet, phone and Sony PSP games console.

The video was even mentioned by David Cameron today in his address to parliament.

‘When we see children as young as 13, looting and laughing, when we see the disgusting sight of an injured young man with people pretending to help him while they are robbing him, it is clear that there are things that are badly wrong in our society,’ said the Prime Minister.

The 20-year-old finance student had his jaw broken but said “Britain is great” and said he felt sorry for this attackers.

A petition calling on the Government to evict the looters from council houses and stop their benefits has had 83,000 signatures in 24 hours. It only needs 100,000 signatures to be debated in parliament.

Have your say below.

Riots Will cost Taxpayer £100 Million, Mark Duggan 'Did Not Fire at Police'.

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Mark Duggan ‘did not fire at police’

It has emerged that Mark Duggan had a blank-firing gun which had been converted to hold live ammunition

16,000 police on duty in London

England game against Netherlands at Wembley tomorrow called off

Jamie Olivier’s restaurant in Birmingham was targeted by rioters

Police Cells are now full and 44 more police officers have been injured

Three people arrested for attempted murder of police officer

Cost of cleaning up the riots could cost taxpayers £100 million

Prime Minister David Cameron has recalled Parliament for Thursday so he can make a statement

Sloane Square Tube station was among dozens that were closed last night during the rioting

Youths congregating at Piccadilly, riot police are there

People urged to stay indoors

In Clapham youths went on the rampage trashing dozens of shops and walking out stolen goods.
Residents complained that police were very slow to respond as a Debenhams store was ransacked.

This morning Clapham high street was cordoned off as a investigation and the clear-up got underway.

Rioting began in Hackney at about 4pm yesterday when hooded youths began hurling missiles at officers and setting fire to bins and cars. Masked rioters on BMX bicycles armed with batons attacked a crowded London bus during the evening rush-hour, chasing terrified commuters as they tried to escape.

Some of the thugs were as young as eight and they forced the driver to stop the double-decker by pelting it with champagne bottles stolen from a nearby Tesco. About 40 passengers ran away, some carrying their children.

Within hours similar scenes erupted in Lewisham, spreading to Peckham, Deptford and Croydon.
Hundreds of fires were started all over the capital, North London; Camden, Woolwich in the south, in West London; Ealing. People were forced to take the law into their own hands to protect themselves and their family.

In Dalston and Hackney, shopkeepers fought back against looting youths and protected their businesses. Surrounding areas were pillaged as members of the town’s large Turkish community stood up outside their homes and businesses to protect them.

Home Secretary Theresa May said this morning that there had been 450 arrests in the last two nights but she ruled out bringing in the Army and using water cannon. She told BBC Breakfast:

‘British policing has always meant and always depended on the support of local communities and that’s what we need now.’

She told Sky News the capital needed ‘robust policing’ – and claimed that police budget cutting had not had an impact on the violence.

‘Don’t let police budgets be used as an excuse for what is going on on our streets is sheer criminality and nothing else.’

Patrick Mercer, the Tory MP and former Army officer, hit out and told the Telegraph that tougher policing should be used.

He said: ‘I find it strange that we are willing to use these sort of measures against the Irish yet when Englishmen step out of line and behave in this atrocious and appalling way, we are happy to mollycoddle them.’

Met Police Assistant Commissioner Stephen Kavanagh seemed to contradict the Home Secretary and said using the military had not been ruled out.

‘All options were discussed last night and that means, not that we’re doing it, the people of London need to know that the Commissioner and his management board team are considering everything and working through those options as we go forward,’ he told BBC Breakfast.

Mr Kavanagh said it was ‘a shocking and appalling morning for London to wake up to’ and he was struck by the ‘sheer scale and speed with which the attacks took place across London last night’. It ‘was truly unprecedented’

He said there was a ‘changing nature’ in the make-up of the rioters, with the profile changing ‘dramatically’ last night from 14 to 17-year-olds to ‘older groups in cars doing organised looting’.

He added: ‘And there was the far more focused attempt at injuring London Ambulance staff, there to help the community, trying to injure Fire Brigade officers and, of course, police officers.’

In Birmingham, West Midlands Police said it had made about 100 arrests and confirmed that a police station in Handsworth, Birmingham, was on fire. Merseyside Police said there were a number of incidents in South Liverpool and that cars had been set on alight.

Somerset Police reported 150 rioters were in Bristol city centre, with main roads closed and a number of shops damaged.

Councilors have said it will cost £227,000 to repair Tottenham

There is a brilliant article here on how the poverty these kids have is moral, not financial.http://www.thecommentator.com/article/359/london_rioters_are_the_pampered_children_of_the_welfare_state

And the Telegraph has a brilliant article with pictures of london before and after the riot

You can help people made homeless by the London riots by donating bedding, clothes, etc to Apex House, 820 Seven Sisters Road, London N15 5PQ

26-Year-Old Man Is First To Die In London Riots

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London Riots: Worst Civil Unrest in Decades

A murder hunt was launched after a 26-year-old man died after being admitted to hospital suffering from gunshot wounds.

According to a police statement, the as yet unnamed victim was discovered in a car at about 9.15pm in Croydon, south London.

As the man became the first fatality of the ‘unprecedented’ London riots, David Cameron has come back from Tuscany early to deal with the unrest. He went into a meeting with COBR (the Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms) at 9am and then made a statement saying: “If you’re old enough to commit these crimes, you’re old enough to face the consequences.”

This came after the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s website queried: “Where were the statesmen as London burned?” ABC went on to say: “London burned and meanwhile Prime Minister David Cameron fiddled with the foil on a bottle of Pinot Grigio in Tuscany, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg quietly recovered at home from his getaway in sunny France and Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osbourne remained ensconced at a hotel somewhere in Beverly Hills.

“Britain’s already shaky confidence in its leaders, several of whom have spent the summer trying to wriggle free of their association with the hacking scandal, will be further disturbed by the determination of the nation’s powerbrokers to cling to the sun bed.”

The troubles started on Saturday after a protest outside Tottenham police station descended into violence. A crowd demonstrated after alleged gangster, Mark Duggan, 29, was shot dead on Thursday. The protest began peacefully, but soon descended into chaos and has since spread around the UK.

Last night it wasn’t just London that was affected – Bristol, Liverpool and Birmingham also suffered riots with mass looting – while surburban Ealing in west London was also hit by looters.

People have been left homeless after their homes were set on fire, shops were ransacked, and, in a chilling development, people were asked to get out of their cars by looters before their vehicles were set ablaze. One women talked of waking up to find a masked man at the foot of her bed, after looters broke into her home. It is also alleged that the rioters tried to set fire to Ealing Studios, while Tesco and Sainsbury’s were attacked. Shocked and determined locals met at the Ealing Horse pub to begin to cleaning up their neighbourhood from 10am today.

Frost found this video of the violence in Ealing:

 

In Notting Hill, acclaimed restaurant The Ledbury was attacked and dinners were mugged, before thugs were chased off by kitchen staff. There were also reports on Twitter of yobs wielding machetes in the area.

One rioter said: “We are getting our taxes back.”  It was, however, unconfirmed whether or not this person – and many others involved – have ever actually paid tax.

As 16,000 police are set to retake London, Home Secretary Theresa May said:  ‘We don’t do water cannon, we rely on consent,” as she ruled out tough action. She added: ‘We need robust policing but we also need to ensure that justice is done through the courts.”

As vigilantes are forced to defend shops, she has been criticised for the soft approach and the government appears increasingly out of kilter with the mood of law-abiding citizens.

In the meantime, the police have put photos on their website to try and find some of the culprits, link here

The Met added that 334 people have been arrested in London since rioting broke out on Saturday. So far 69 have been charged.

The youngest person to be arrested so far is 11 years old.

 

Rupert Murdoch: This is the most humble day of my life.

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Phone hacking Updates: Sean Hoare Dead, Murdochs, Yates and Stephenson Face committee.

 

In a sad development in the phone hacking juggernaut, Sean Hoare, 47, was found dead amidst ‘unexplained’ circumstances. Hoares, who accused his former editor, Andy Coulson, of illegal activity, was found dead at his home days after he made fresh allegations against executives who he worked for.

Police said they did not at this stage suspect foul play. Before his death he told the Guardian : “There’s more to come. This is not going to go away.” and the New York Times that Coulson’s claim that he knew nothing about the hacking was “simply a lie”.

 

Prime Minister David Cameron has cut short a trip to Africa as the crisis worsens, unlike Elisabeth Murdoch, who had went on holiday with husband Matthew Freud as her father Rupert, and brother James, face the select committee. Mr Cameron will face questions from MPs after Parliament summer recess was delayed so he could make an emergency Commons statement. Mr Cameron will be facing some tough questions over his decision to hire Andy Coulson as his media strategist.

Watch the live hacking commitee and the Murdoch’s being interviewed courtesy of the Telegraph

 

Other developments:

 

John Yates has resigned over his links to Neil Wallis, former deputy editor of the News of the World. Yates twice resisted requests to reopen the investigation into phone hacking.

 

Sir Paul Stephenson, head of the Metropolitan Police, also known as Scotland Yard, Resigned. Stephenson referred to his resignation saying; “It was my decision and my decision only.”

 

Boris Johnson has denied that he personally intervened in the resignation of Sir Paul Stephenson, the Met Commissioner and Mr Yates.

 

Rebekah Brooks was arrested on Sunday. She will still answer questions from the committee.

 

James Murdoch’s future looks uncertain and he will face the same panels of MPs as Brooks and his father.

 

Rupert Murdoch was mobbed by the press as he arrives at the Houses of Parliament. His wife, Wendi Deng, sat behind him as he was being interviewed and touched his arm in comfort a few times.

 

The scandal has rocked Britain and made the Murdochs, who were untouchable just last month, fair game. It is alleged the over 4000 people’s phones were hacked. Rupert Murdoch made an apologyy in newspapers over the weekend and also personallyapologiseded to Milly Dowler’s family after her phone was hacked.

James Murdoch perviously said: “We now have voluntarily given evidence to the police that I believe will prove that this was untrue and those who acted wrongly will have to face the consequences,This was not the only fault. The paper made statements to Parliament without being in the full possession of the facts. This was wrong.”

“I don’t see how he can survive,” Howell Raines, former executive editor of The New York Times told ABCNews.com. “Seems to me that the movement both politically and legally is ominous.”

 

Rupert Murdoch has defended his son by saying; “I think he acted as fast as he could, the moment he could,” he told the Wall Street Journal.