From The Guardian:
James Desborough, an award-winning former reporter at the News of the World, has been arrested by officers investigating the phone-hacking scandal.
Desborough was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications, contrary to section 1 (1) of the Criminal Law Act 1977, after arriving at a south London police station yesterday at 10.30am. He had arrived by appointment for questioning about criminal activities at the defunct paper.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/...
(h/t MSNBC for reporting this arrest, calling it to my attention.)
The arrest of James Desborough, a junior journalist at NoTW, appears to further undermine the family Murdoch's contention that the hacking was limited to one rogue reporter (Clive Goodman) and a single investigator (Glenn Mulcaire) back in 2007. It also raises the question of whether Desborough did any hacking AFTER he was promoted and relocated to Los Angeles in 2009, an angle that U.S. authorities are prepared to investigate.
Speaking of Mulcaire, who has already gone to prison for his role in Murdochgate...
From the same article:
It also has also emerged that Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator at the centre of the phone-hacking affair, is suing the tabloid's publisher, News International, in an attempt to force the company to pay his legal bills. His lawyers have issued a high court writ after the company, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, announced on 20 July it would immediately stop paying his legal costs.
News International confirmed it had received the writ but had no further comment.
(all bolding by diarist)
I plan to update if neccessary, and possibly delete if Brit posts his assessment of the latest! Cheers.
UPDATE 1:
From AnnetteK in the comments, there are now hints that James Murdoch will be stepping down in the near future. From a Reuters article she found:
With Rupert Murdoch's younger son under increasing pressure from the phone-hacking scandal enveloping the company, News Corp executives want to be prepared if he wants to "take a breather," one News Corp source said.
"The company is still trying to operate as if James isn't going anywhere," said another high-ranking insider. "But everyone is thinking about what will happen if he has to step aside."
Plans are still in place for James to relocate to New York early next year.
But the first News Corp insider characterized the move to New York as an attempt by the company to remove him from the line of fire in the UK, not as a logical step in his ascension.
http://www.reuters.com/...
Maybe it's a trial balloon for global NI shareholders. Step down or not, I think he and his dad should go to prison.
UPDATE 2:
Or was it...MURDER?
AnnetteK goes double-platinum in the comments, with news that MP Tom Watson wants a murder investigation reopened, in light of Murdochgate:
An MP has called for the unsolved murder of a private investigator to be included in the judicial inquiry into phone hacking.
Daniel Morgan was killed in south-east London in 1987.
Alleged police corruption and links to the former News of the World paper has led to MP Tom Watson to call for the case to be re-examined as part of the Leveson inquiry.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/...
(the video clip is a MUST-WATCH!)
UPDATE 3:
From The New York Times, here's a bit more about the 'journalist' Desborough who was arrested today, and some of his possible Hollywood hack victims. Also, a really, really self-incriminating comment he made:
Mr. Desborough wrote exclusive articles about Heather Mills before her divorce from Sir Paul McCartney. Ms. Mills recently said she believed that she had, at some point, been a victim of phone hacking.
Mr. Desborough, after winning the reporting award in 2009, said in an interview with its sponsor, The Press Gazette, that he was working at a “very difficult time for the tabloid market.”
And here's the near-confession:
“A lot of deals are done these days between P.R.’s and papers,” he said, referring to public relations professionals. Speaking of his own articles, he said: “These stories were all old-fashioned journalism where we said, ‘We know this to be true, would you like to comment?’ ”
http://www.nytimes.com/...
UPDATE 4:
The law firm of Harbottle & Lewis, formerly employed by News Corp. to basically give them a clean bill of health, describes Murdoch's testimony before Parliament as 'inaccurate, self-serving and misleading'. From AdNews:
The law firm Harbottle & Lewis claims that Rupert Murdoch was “confused” when he gave evidence to British MPs about legal advice given by them after the News of the World (NOTW) dismissed its “rogue reporter” at the start of the phone hacking saga.
Murdoch said the firm made a “major mistake” underestimating the scope of the problem during a brief investigation for News International's British division. Harbottle has rebuked this claim saying that this advice - given years earlier - had been misused out of context by a “self-serving” company that claimed it gave them a “clean bill of health” at the time.
The firm says that claim was “inaccurate and misleading” as they were only able to look at emails provided by News International for any “reasonable evidence” former News of the World editor Andy Coulson knew of phone hacking by Clive Goodman – former reporter jailed in 2007.
http://www.adnews.com.au/...
I'm pretty sure that's good news - it appears News Corp. has antagonized a highly competent law firm. But let's be careful - as I think about it, Harbottle & Lewis could be in on the spin. 'Confused, Inaccurate, self-serving and misleading' are still a far cry from "lying", I think, in legal terms. Gah - we now have to double-think every bit of news.
UPDATE 5:
From The Telegraph, Rupert Murdoch has just quietly sold his beloved, sprawling ranch in Carmel Valley, California, a place where Rupert entertained senior executives and inner-circle cronies. Sale price: $17.8 million. Possible crime scene? Don't be surprised to see building torn down and turned into parking lot!
He described the property this way in 2006:
“I come here because my family and I love it,” Murdoch said in 2006. “I feel completely relaxed here. It’s where we gather as a family. I use the ranch as a retreat to entertain my executive and senior team members. People appreciate that you entertain them in your home. You’ve still got to treat people right at the office, but they do appreciate coming here.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/...
Sounds like the property was Rupert Murdoch's Berchtesgarten. I just went Godwin, didn't I? ;D