Mitchell on PHONE HACKING - 'Someone tried to get details of my mobile 'phone account'

Thanks sharonl.

There seems to be more, just read this.........


5 July 2011
Last updated at 19:03

[b].Phone-hacking police meet murdered Soham girls' parents [/b]


Cambridgeshire Police confirmed that Met detectives visited the parents of the murdered girls

The parents of murdered Soham girls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman have been visited by police investigating phone-hacking by journalists.

Private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, working for the News of the World, allegedly hacked the phone of murdered girl Milly Dowler when she was missing.

News International has promised the "strongest possible action" if it is proven Milly's phone was hacked.

In a statement, Mulcaire apologised to anyone "hurt or upset" by his actions.

The Guardian has claimed he intercepted messages left by relatives for 13-year-old Milly Dowler while she was missing in 2002, and that the News of the World (NoW) deleted some messages it had already listened to in order to make space for more to be left.

In a statement released to the Guardian on Tuesday, Mulcaire made no direct reference to those allegations but apologised "to anybody who was hurt or upset by what I have done".

He said: "Working for the News of the World was never easy. There was relentless pressure. There was a constant demand for results.

"I knew what we did pushed the limits ethically. But, at the time, I didn't understand that I had broken the law at all."

He added that he "never had any intention of interfering with any police inquiry into any crime".

BBC business editor Robert Peston says police are investigating whether the phone of Jessica's father, Leslie Chapman, was hacked by the press.

Jessica and Holly, both 10, of Soham, Cambridgeshire, were murdered in 2002 by school caretaker Ian Huntley, who was jailed for life.


Schoolgirl Milly Dowler's remains were found six months after she went missing in March 2002 Our business editor also says that, in relation to the claims involving Milly Dowler, News International executives privately say "they accept that the basic allegations are true".

"Perhaps more striking, however," he adds, "is that those executives also say that there may be even more embarrassing revelations to come about the way that News of the World journalists obtained informations about other individuals."

Milly went missing in March 2002 near her home in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey. Her remains were found in remote woodland at Yateley Heath in Hampshire six months later.

Nightclub doorman Levi Bellfield was convicted of the murder last month.

'Further torture'

In a memo to staff on Tuesday, Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of NoW publisher News International, said the allegations Milly's phone was hacked were "almost too horrific to believe".


Mrs Brooks said the company would "not tolerate such disgraceful behaviour" "I have to tell you that I am sickened that these events are alleged to have happened," Mrs Brooks wrote.

"Not just because I was editor of the News of the World at the time, but if the accusations are true, the devastating effect on Milly Dowler's family is unforgivable."

She added: "I hope that you all realise it is inconceivable that I knew - or worse - sanctioned these appalling allegations."

Labour leader Ed Miliband said the public would be "horrified that the grieving parents of an abducted child were made to go through further torture that somehow she was alive because her voicemails were being retrieved or deleted".

He called the allegations a "stain on the character of British journalism", adding there should be "a proper inquiry into the culture and practices which allowed these things to happen".

Advertising pulled

Motor company Ford has announced a halt on advertising in the News of the World, pending the newspaper's investigation and response over the phone-hacking claims.

“
Start Quote
Now that people fully realise just how repulsive these people are - and the lengths to which they'll go - hopefully there'll be more momentum in getting something done”
End Quote
Hugh Grant
Actor


"Ford is a company which cares about the standards of behaviour of its own people and those it deals with externally," it said in a statement.

Energy company Npower and the Halifax bank have announced they are considering their options regarding advertising in the News of the World.

MPs will hold an emergency debate on Wednesday on whether there should be a public inquiry into the phone-hacking scandal.

House of Commons Speaker John Bercow granted the urgent debate following a call by Labour MP Chris Bryant, who accused the News of the World of "playing God with a family's emotions".

In the upper house, former Conservative Party Chairman Lord Fowler said an inquiry was needed in the wake of "one of the biggest scandals affecting the press in living memory".

Home Office minister Baroness Browning said the government would await the outcome of the police investigation before deciding whether further action was necessary.

Also on Wednesday, the Media Standards Trust - which aims to promote high news standards within the media - will launch the Hacked Off campaign calling for a public inquiry into "phone hacking and other forms of illegal intrusion by the press".

Out-of-court settlements

On BBC Radio 4's World at One programme, actor Hugh Grant - who investigated hacking for the New Statesman in April - said that he hoped the latest allegations would bring about a public inquiry.

It had previously been difficult to get people to care about the hacking scandal - which involved celebrities and MPs having allegedly been targeted - because "most victims are rich", Mr Grant said.

"It's been hard to get people to viscerally feel sickened and outraged, but now that people fully realise just how repulsive these people are - and the lengths to which they'll go - hopefully there'll be more momentum in getting something done," he said.

The Metropolitan Police launched Operation Weeting in January this year after new phone-hacking claims emerged. The force has faced criticism for its initial inquiry in 2006 into phone-hacking at the paper.

That probe led to the convictions and imprisonment of Mulcaire and then News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman in 2007 for conspiracy to access phone messages left for members of the royal household.

A number of alleged phone-hacking victims have since reached out-of-court settlements with the newspaper.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14035270

Remeber Murdoch's empire was one of the major Conservative financial sponsors in the last election so they probably have something to prove to Rupert (this pains me to say as I am a Conservative voter but if they mess this up I will vote elsewhere).

I think Murdoch should be stopped and for once even agree with 2 jags Prescott (for the first time ever!).

Two paragraphs about about Clarence Mitchell and his fears in this BBC report today:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14035270

QUOTE

BBC Newsnight has learned that police investigating press phone-hacking have also spoken to Jacqui Hames, a former Met officer and presenter on BBC's Crimewatch, and Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for the family of missing child Madeleine McCann.

Mr Mitchell told the BBC that someone had tried to persuade his mobile phone network operator to reveal confidential information about his account.

UNQUOTE

wow that didn't take long. we have been saying on twitter for around 30 mins that the Mccanns would try to turn this tragedy to their own use for publicity and then here it is Clarence Mitchell has been hacked. In my book not quite the same as an innocent 13 year old girl but I am sure he can turn it to his advantage in the press.

Who bets Mccanns are on the news tomorrow. I hope not though as they have benefited from enough peoples tragedy already!

Poor Milly!

[snipped]

Police officers investigating phone hacking by the News of the World are turning their attention to examine every high-profile case involving the murder, abduction or attack on any child since 2001 in response to the revelation that journalists from the tabloid newspaper hacked into the voicemail messages of the murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler.


The case of Madeleine McCann is expected to be one of the first to be re-examined by detectives from Scotland Yard's new inquiry into the phone hacking, Operation Weeting. Other cases likely to be re-examined include 15-year-old Danielle Jones, who was abducted and murdered in East Tilbury, Essex, in 2001 by her uncle, Stuart Campbell.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/05/phone-hacking-police-review-child-murders

Isn't the Mitchell story old? I am positive someone has commented on it before.

Dr_Evil wrote:Isn't the Mitchell story old? I am posative someone has commented on it before.

It would seem that CM was in the news about this last January, on this thread here......................

https://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t2007-someone-tried-to-hack-into-my-phone-moans-clarence-mitchell?highlight=mitchell+voicemail+hacking

candyfloss wrote:

Dr_Evil wrote:Isn't the Mitchell story old? I am positive someone has commented on it before.

It would seem that CM was in the news about this last January, on this thread here...

https://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t2007-someone-tried-to-hack-into-my-phone-moans-clarence-mitchell?highlight=mitchell+voicemail+hacking

The story is different now.

THEN it was 'someone tried to hack into my mobile 'phone'.

NOW it is 'someone tried to contact my mobile 'phone company'.

Who knows if either of them is true, given that the Head of the Portuguese Lawyers' Association, Carlos Anjos, once said of Clarence Mitchell: 'He lies with as many teeth as he has in his mouth'.

News of the World phone hacking: Police review all child abduction cases
Detectives to examine every case involving attacks on children since 2001 in response to Milly Dowler phone hacking
Madeleine McCann, which is expected to be the first case to be re-examined in the wake of Milly Dowler phone hacking allegations.
Police officers investigating phone hacking by the News of the World are turning their attention to examine every high-profile case involving the murder, abduction or attack on any child since 2001 in response to the revelation that journalists from the tabloid newspaper hacked into the voicemail messages of the murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler.

The move is a direct response to the Guardian's exclusive story on Monday that a private investigator working for the News International tabloid, Glenn Mulcaire, caused Milly's parents to wrongly believe she was still alive – and interfered with police inquiries into her disappearance – by hacking into the teenager's mobile phone and deleting messages.

News of the impending police action capped a dramatic day of unfolding developments in the News of the World phone-hacking scandal.

Last night, it emerged that News International handed to the Metropolitan Police details of payments made by News of the World to senior police officers between 2003 and 2007, the period when Andy Coulson was the paper's editor.

The development brings the crisis closer to the door of prime minister David Cameron who appointed Coulson as his director of communications when in opposition and then staunchly defended him until Coulson quit in January 2011.

News International said last night: "As a result of media enquiries, it is correct to state that new information has recently been provided to the police. As News International and News Group Newspapers has reiterated many times, full and continuing cooperation has been provided to the police since the current investigation started in January 2011. Well understood arrangements are in place to ensure that any material of importance to which they are entitled is provided to them. We cannot comment any further due to the ongoing investigations."

The revelation also suggests there is now a breaking of ranks inside News International since the files on payments to the police are unlikely to have emerged only yesterday, but instead were released to the police as senior executives said the paper could no longer continue to cover up the scale of the wrong doing at the paper.

Pointedly, News International insisted last night that the payments to the police did not relate to the period from 2000-2003, when Brooks was the paper's editor. Commentators last night suggested that was a way for the company to deflect the blame onto Coulson.

Throughout the day, pressure intensified on the Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper and, in particular, its former editor and now News International chief executive, Rebekah Brooks – who insisted she knew nothing of the Dowler hacking allegations. She edited the News of the World at the time the hacking of Milly Dowler's phone messages took place.

Last night, former News of the World journalist Paul McMullan claimed on BBC Newsnight that Rebekah Brooks was aware of the phone hacking. Asked if his former editor knew of the activities, he said: "Of course she did."

McMullen, who made similar claims in a conversation that was secretly by taped by actor Hugh Grant earlier this year, described the hacking of Dowler's phone as "not such a big deal".

He said: "The journalists might have helped. The mistake that was made was that [Mulcaire] was so keen to get new messages he deleted the old ones."

The case of Madeleine McCann is expected to be one of the first to be re-examined by detectives from Scotland Yard's new inquiry into the phone hacking, Operation Weeting.

Clarence Mitchell, Kate and Gerry McCann's spokesman, said he has been interviewed by officers from the hacking inquiry Operation Weeting, and is due to be interviewed a second time in the near future.

Other cases likely to be re-examined include 15-year-old Danielle Jones, who was abducted and murdered in East Tilbury, Essex, in 2001 by her uncle, Stuart Campbell.

Officers from Operation Weeting have already told the parents of the girls killed in Soham in 2002 by Ian Huntley that their mobiles had been hacked. Documents seized by the Metropolitan police in a 2006 raid on Mulcaire's home show he targeted Leslie Chapman, the father of Jessica Chapman.

It is understood the name "Greg" appeared in the corner of notes taken by Mulcaire – believed to be a reference to the News of the World's former assistant editor (news) Greg Miskiw. It is thought that parents of the other murdered girl, Holly Wells, were also targeted.

Police officers will trawl through their collection of 11,000 pages of notes kept by Mulcaire, and seized from him in 2006, when he and the News of the World's royal editor, Clive Goodman, were jailed for hacking into mobile phones belonging to aides to Prince William and Harry and other members of the royal household.

Mulcaire issued a public apology on Tuesday to all those hurt or upset by his activities, saying that after the developments of the past 24 hours he had to "break his silence". He said: "I want to apologise to anybody who was hurt or upset by what I have done. I've been to court. I've pleaded guilty. And I've gone to prison and been punished. I still face the possibility of further criminal prosecution.

"Working for the News of the World was never easy. There was relentless pressure. There was a constant demand for results. I knew what we did pushed the limits ethically. But, at the time, I didn't understand that I had broken the law at all."

The media regulator, Ofcom, is understood to be ready to examine whether News Corporation directors would be "fit and proper persons" to own BSkyB – if any senior employees at News Corporation or its UK arm, News International, were charged with hacking-related offences.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation is closing in on winning regulatory approval for its proposed £8bn-plus takeover of the 61% of BSkyB it does not own. Sources close to the culture secretary Jeremy Hunt, who will decide on the issue, insisted he could not take phone hacking into account in the decision that is focused on "media plurality".

Meanwhile a string of high-profile companies – including Ford, npower, Halifax, T-Mobile and Orange – said they would be reviewing or withdrawing their advertising in the News of the World. These five brands are estimated to account for more than £2m worth of advertising in the tabloid in the past year. T-Mobile and Orange are thought to have spent an estimated £1.5m between them.

Ford said it would be using "alternative media within and outside News International Group instead of placing Ford advertising in the News of the World" while it awaited the outcome of an internal investigation.

The company added: "Ford is a company which cares about the standards of behaviour of its own people and those it deals with externally."

Halifax said it was "considering our options" about advertising in the News of the World, adding: "We are sensitive to the views of our customers and will take them into account."

, with cCalls for boycotts of the News of the World appeared on Twitter and Facebook, and companies came under sustained pressure to pull their advertising from it.

Those wishing to direct their fury at the firms who advertise through the News of the World were provided with a one-stop page where they could automatically tweet their concerns to companies such as the Co-operative, easyJet, Butlins and Renault. Others went further, and calling for direct boycotts of the firms unless they took their advertising money elsewhere.

John Bercow, the speaker of Commons, granted a debate – which will happen on Wednesday – into calls for a public inquiry into phone hacking by News International journalists, and whether there was a potential cover-up by its senior executives.

Ministers in the Commons opposed the emergency debate but, in what will be seen as another show of force by Bercow, he accepted arguments in favour put by the Labour MP Chris Bryant.

The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, said Brooks needed to "examine her conscience" and that he was sure that she would because "this happened on her watch".

Although his words were Labour's strongest intervention so far on the phone-hacking crisis, the party is still undecided about whether to put forward a substantive motion calling for a public inquiry that could be subject to a vote or amendment.

Media regulator Ofcom is understood to be standing by ready to examine whether News Corporation directors would be "fit and proper persons" to own BSkyB — if any senior employees at News Corporation or its UK arm News International were charged with any hacking related offences. Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation is closing in on winning regulatory approval for its proposed £8bn-plus takeover of the 61% of BSkyB it does not own — with sources close to the deciding minister, culture secretary Jeremy Hunt, insisting again yesterday that he could not take phone hacking into account of a decision that is focused on "media plurality".In the first sign of potential coalition tension of the Conservative Hunt's planned approval of the Murdoch BSkyB deal, Tim Farron, the president of the Liberal Democrats, told BBC Radio 4's World at Oneon Tuesday: "I ask myself, is Rupert Murdoch a fit and proper person to own any more of the media market? Well, certainly not." The Milly Dowler revelations were the "tip of the iceberg", he added.

Channel 4 News reported that Brooks was confronted by the Met in 2002 about the fact a senior detective investigating the murder of a private investigator, Daniel Morgan, was targeted by Mulcaire on behalf of the News of the World. The main suspect in the case, which was being led by Detective Superintendent David Cook, was a man with close links to the News of the World.

Cook and his wife, Jackie Haines, were told by Scotland Yard in April this year their mobile phone numbers and payroll details had been found in Mulcaire's notebook. News International said it could not confirm or deny whether Brooks had ever attended such a meeting.

Lady Buscombe, the chairman of the Press Complaints Commission, said she was lied to by the News of the World over phone hacking.

"There's only so much we can do when people are lying to us. We know now that I was not being given the truth by the News of the World," she told the BBC's Daily Politics.

Brooks emailed employees at News International to insist she knew nothing about phone hacking: "It is inconceivable that I knew or worse, sanctioned these appalling allegations. I am aware of the speculation about my position.

"Therefore it is important you all know that as chief executive, I am determined to lead the company to ensure we do the right thing and resolve these serious issues."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/05/phone-hacking-police-review-child-murders

Clarence Mitchell, the spokesman of Madeleine McCann's parents, has been cropping up in numerous interviews to confirm he has been spoken to by police investigating phone hacking.

Mitchell, a former BBC journalist, said he had discovered "suspicious" activity on his mobile phone account from February and July 2008 - at a time when Madeleine's parents were being investigated by Portuguese police.

It appears that a person or persons unknown attempted to seek information about my number in relation to the McCann case.

In one instance they claimed that I had been phoning them regularly and that they were something to do with 'the McCann CID trial'.

This is clearly untrue as no such thing exists, nor did I ever make such calls to any number every night.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/blog/2011/jul/05/phone-hacking-live-updates

honeybunch wrote:wow that didn't take long. we have been saying on twitter for around 30 mins that the Mccanns would try to turn this tragedy to their own use for publicity and then here it is Clarence Mitchell has been hacked. In my book not quite the same as an innocent 13 year old girl but I am sure he can turn it to his advantage in the press.

Who bets Mccanns are on the news tomorrow. I hope not though as they have benefited from enough peoples tragedy already!

Poor Milly!

I saw them on the news last night in relation to this story.

The McCanns always manage to associate themselves to any news story (except Caylee Anthony) even when, as you say, the story is about an innocent 13 year old girl.

candyfloss wrote:[snipped]

Police officers investigating phone hacking by the News of the World are turning their attention to examine every high-profile case involving the murder, abduction or attack on any child since 2001 in response to the revelation that journalists from the tabloid newspaper hacked into the voicemail messages of the murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler.


The case of Madeleine McCann is expected to be one of the first to be re-examined by detectives from Scotland Yard's new inquiry into the phone hacking, Operation Weeting. Other cases likely to be re-examined include 15-year-old Danielle Jones, who was abducted and murdered in East Tilbury, Essex, in 2001 by her uncle, Stuart Campbell.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/05/phone-hacking-police-review-child-murders

I have merged your thread with this one Rosa as the link and quote from the article are here on above quote

Rupert Murdoch backs Rebekah Brooks over phone-hacking allegations

News Corp founder describes latest News of the World revelations as 'deplorable and unacceptable'



Rupert Murdoch has issued an official public statement backing Rebekah Brooks. Photograph: Eddie Keogh/Reuters


Rupert Murdoch has taken the highly unusual step of issuing an official public statement backing Rebekah Brooks over the phone-hacking scandal engulfing his UK newspaper business.

The News Corporation boss described the recent allegations about phone hacking and payments to police officers by the News of the World "deplorable and unacceptable".

"I have made clear that our company must fully and proactively co-operate with the police in all investigations and that is exactly what News International has been doing and will continue to do under Rebekah Brooks' leadership," he added.

Murdoch also said he had asked Joel Klein, who heads News Corp's recently created education unit, "to provide important oversight and guidance". Viet Dinh, a non-executive director, is keeping the News Corp board informed along with Klein, he said.

Murdoch's statement came after it emerged on Wednesday that News International will claim Brooks, the News of the World publisher's chief executive, was on holiday when a mobile phone belonging to missing teenager Milly Dowler was hacked into in 2002 when Brooks was editing the Sunday tabloid.

The Guardian understands that the company has established that Brooks, News of the World editor from May 2000 until January 2003, was on holiday in Italy when the paper ran a story that referred to a message that had been left on the teenager's phone. The article, which was about a message left by an employment agency on the murdered schoolgirl's mobile, was published on 14 April 2002.

News International also believes Brooks was away in the two weeks following the murder of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in Soham. It is thought that mobile phones belonging to the parents of the two girls were targeted in the days following their death.

That is likely to focus attention on Andy Coulson, who was Brooks's deputy at the time, and would normally have edited the paper in her absence.

Coulson replaced Brooks as editor in early 2003 and has always maintained that he was unaware of any phone-hacking activity by the News of the World. He resigned in January 2007 after the royal reporter, Clive Goodman, and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire were jailed for intercepting the voicemail messages of members of the royal household, saying he accepted responsibility for what had happened but knew nothing about it.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/06/rupert-murdoch-rebekah-brooks-phone-hacking

Isn`t Rebekah Brooks the Rebekah Wade that reported on behalf of the McCanns in earlier days, the same woman who attended glitzy parties at Matthew Freuds Notting Hill home, occassionally dropped off by and after having dinner with Gordon Brown?

LOL

Was someone listening in on your calls Mr Mitchell? Could that have possibly been the Portuguese police?

Clarrie was head of Media Monitoring at one point. In the early days of Madeleines' disappearance, Mitchell was in PDL still throwing his weight around and giving orders to the journalists. There are articles about lazy journalists and Clarrie is quoted as actually telling them "We are not reporting on this today" which tells me that he was very much in control, why would any journalist want to or need to hack is phone when he gives them all the information that he will allow them to report on anyway?



Sometimes, a person has to been seen to be a victim in order to avoid suspicion of involvement.

Isn`t Rebekah Brooks the Rebekah Wade that reported on behalf of the McCanns in earlier days, the same woman who attended glitzy parties at Matthew Freuds Notting Hill home, occassionally dropped off by and after having dinner with Gordon Brown?

Yes, the very same Rebekah. (Nicknamed 'the slapper' by Private Eye magazine for her physical abuse of first husband Ross Kemp) The plot thickens eh?


"Mr McCann has assiduously nurtured contacts among national newspaper
editors to counteract the stories emanating from Portugal. He is
believed to have telephoned the News of the World's editor, Colin Myler,
shortly before he was declared an arguido (suspect), to tell his side
of the story, and it was a direct call by Mr McCann to Rebekah Wade last
week that resulted in a Sun splash and inside headline: 'There's no
proof.' By contrast, the day before the paper ran with the headline:
'Guilty or Innocent?'" Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/mccanns-launch-fightback-over-nonsensical-murder-claims-402797.html

Daisy wrote:

"Mr McCann has assiduously nurtured contacts among national newspaper
editors to counteract the stories emanating from Portugal. He is
believed to have telephoned the News of the World's editor, Colin Myler,
shortly before he was declared an arguido (suspect), to tell his side
of the story, and it was a direct call by Mr McCann to Rebekah Wade last
week that resulted in a Sun splash and inside headline: 'There's no
proof.' By contrast, the day before the paper ran with the headline:
'Guilty or Innocent?'"

I remember an article entitled:--

"MCCANNS DO A DEAL WITH THE PRESS"

I have not been able to find it since, but I do remember that Kate was quoted as saying "they will not print anything bad"

I anyone has a copy of this article it would be interesting to read it again.

No prizes for guessing what the deal was then.

Bastards.

A few interesting facts in this blog.

"Does PR spokesman Clarence Mitchell know more than he’s letting on?.....

Puzzle One: the Murdoch Sun has been publicising Gerry and Kate McCann’s book about their missing daughter Madeleine. This despite the fact that in January, their press agent Clarence Mitchell told the media he suspected both his and their phones had been hacked. So in the light of more recent Soham parent revelations about Newscorp allegedly hacking them in their hour of need, you’d have thought Gerry, Kate and Clarence might have concluded the Dirty Digger was behind it.

Why, then, sign a book and publicity deal with Newscorp?

Puzzle Two: as a result of the McCanns’ open letter to the Prime Minister in the Sun – pleading for the case to be reopened – Call me Dave I’m all heart Cameron leaned on Theresa May to cough up the £13 million required to do so; and she, being a lesser flea, rang some littler fleas in the Met to order them forthwith strongly advise that they do the same. Which they are now doing.

Having initially wondered why Dave would bother (apart from the chance of some lachrymose image repairs) I was then surprised to see the Prime Minister back-tracking over the last two days….insisting he hadn’t leaned on anyone, but merely ‘suggested’ they ‘might’ reopen the case. I was especially taken aback, because I know – categorically – that this is bollocks. Not only is it bollocks, Mr Cameron himself personally assured Gerry and Kate (they say) that the investigation “will come out of Home Office, not Police funds”. Not ‘might’ if it happens – will, when it does. This is an odd tense to use if you’re only doing the suggesting thing.

Of course, there’s more to this than money. The IoS had an intriguing piece yesterday, in which Met Police Authority bigwig Jenny Jones was quoted as saying, “The police should not take this case up in this way. It is ludicrous. This could take years and will cost millions. It is very unusual for police to step in like this and it is not an appropriate use of police resources. The Government is closing down the Forensic Science Service because there are not enough funds. This is a crucial part of police work. Although it is tragic and I feel for the McCanns, how can the Prime Minister justify spending millions of pounds on one case?”

How indeed? Why, I’m asking myself, do something so daft…even if you are David Cameron?

After digging around a little, The Slog has stumbled upon some people and events connected to this extraordinary business…connections that seem to make some potential motives clearer – and other bits considerably murkier.

Let’s start from the beginning.

I was informed last Saturday by media contacts that Clarence Mitchell says the McCann phones have been given the ‘all clear’ vis a vis hacking: no naughty listening in after all, Newscorp found not guilty. This is a first. I must also express my entirely personal opinion that such a finding seems unlikely given Murdoch’s track record….but you never know.

Curiously, Mr Mitchell doesn’t think his phone is tickerty-boo: he told my media source he was still in discussions with the Met. Like another man we know well from the recent past, Clarence is in danger of becoming the story. Hold that thought.

He does seem to be centrally involved in this odd affair, but then Clarence Mitchell’s history makes him a natural for the job. Although in a Labour-spin role at the COI’s Media Monitoring Unit for a brief period some five years ago, in May 2007 he was suddenly seconded to the Foreign Office to work as the McCanns’ chief PR man. I rang a few people over the weekend. Nobody seems to know why that happened – but he obviously did a good job of impressing the McCanns, because in September 2007, he resigned from the civil service to become the McCanns’ full-time spokesman – allegedly on a substantial five-figure salary.

He is still doing that job, but soon afterwards, Clarence started work at the hugely influential PR agency, Freud Communications. Matthew Freud, the owner, is married to Elisabeth Murdoch, the Digger’s favourite offspring. A few months back, Elisabeth trousered a very large sum by flogging her own production venture back to Dad. In October 2008, Freud gave David Cameron some freebie air tickets to fly to Elisabeth’s birthday party on the Digger’s yacht moored off the Greek coast.

Mitchell was obviously making all the right connections to enhance his career. On 4th March 2010, the Tories issued this press release: ‘The Conservative Party has signed up Clarence Mitchell, best-known as spokesman for Madeleine McCann’s parents, as the head of media monitoring for its general election campaign’.

In this job, Clarence worked as second-in-command to…….Andy Coulson. Andy Coulson resigned just one day after Mitchell ‘briefed’ the British media about his mobile phone being hacked.

The good news is that how the open-letter-caring-Cameron bollocks now becomes easier to understand. Mitchell knows all the major players and has all the right contacts. He’d be perfect, in fact – thinking purely hypothetically of course – as the coordination guy for a McCanns project to extract lots of publicity and money from Newscorp via son-in-law Matt Freud, and £13 million of taxpayers’ money from Murdoch’s chum David Cameron. Given that Liz Murdoch is being quietly lined up to run the newly acquired BSkyB in place of potentially toxic Hackgate witness James Murdoch, knowing her hubby would also put Clarence in good shape for a presenter’s job there one day. (He used to do that very thing for BBC24, as it then was…until he fell asleep while due to be on air, and hurriedly left).

The bad news is that, as with most things Murdochio, several unknowns and dark alleys remain.

While this web of chums is partly just another example of The Cameron Club – with all the usual list of suspects present – The Slog is not as yet in a position to work out the significance (if any) of Mitchell’s phone hack stories….and why his chosen release date was so perfectly synchronised with Honest Andy Coulson’s Downing Street departure. I’m still very confused about which event was the chicken, and which the egg – if indeed any hatching was involved at all.

However, journalists here and there might speculate in order to accumulate still more evidence, circumstantial or otherwise. Some might ask whether a high-profile antipodean family is perhaps in Mr Mitchell’s debt in some way. Others with even more suspicious minds might even wonder if Clarence knows where some of the Hackgate bodies are buried….and thus has Newscorp at a disadvantage. And experienced conspiracy theorists might even speculate that the Prime Minister himself has little choice, under the circumstances, than to go along with the coughing up of £13 million, however unpopular that might be.

Whatever the truth or otherwise of this chain of events might be, the fact is that Mr Mitchell has extracted a lucrative deal from Rupert Murdoch, and a police investigation for the sole use of Gerry and Kate McCann. So he really has done a stunning job for his clients.

What’s more, he seems to have done it for nothing. The McCanns and Mitchell have said on the record that the ‘Helping to Find Madeleine Fund’ did not pay any part of his salary, even when he had no other job. They say that he was paid by ‘an anonymous backer’. But Clarence Mitchell won’t say who that backer is, nor why that backer is giving him so much support. And he has changed his mind on at least one occasion about whether there was a backer at all.

The $64 million question has to be, can we trust what Clarence Mitchell says? Well, this quote from Carlos Anjos, head of the Portuguese police professional association, who had dealings with Clarence Mitchell, is brief and to the point: “He lies with as many teeth as he has in his mouth”.

There’s much to ponder upon here; but in the meantime, I offer this tantalising little postscript: Mitchell also reported extensively on the murder by Ian Huntley of Soham girls Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells. Newscorp now stands accused of hacking the parents. I’d love to ask Clarence what he knows about that alleged hacking….and others. But despite repeated attempts over the last 48 hours to raise Clarence Mitchell on his mobile, he has not returned The Slog’s calls.

Those with sharper spades than mine may wish to dig further. In the meantime, if anything further comes to light, Sloggers will be the first to know

http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2011/05/16/hackgate-day-120-the-mccanns-spokesman-andy-coulson-david-cameron-and-13-million-of-public-money/

Apologies for the length but I think it is worth a read and certainly food for thought.

Is it only me that wonders at the connection between Clarence and the victims of the phone tapping scandal? So far we know Milly Dowler, The Soham girls, McCanns possibly and there are others that as yet have not been mentioned.

Yet was it not Clarence who was a very visible reporter on those cases too? If we look at the other cases he was big on reporting like Jill Dando and the Wests for instance. All the cases he was involved in had big question marks as to who was really guilty or there was evidence not publically reported that there may have been other people involved in the background that also were involved in the abuse.

My other question is why has this been exposed now? It really is not that big a secret that this goes on.

Just The Man For The Job

Martin Brunt

July 06, 2011 3:13 PM



How appropriate that Lord Macdonald QC has been hired to defend the News of the World journos suspected of phone-hacking and paying cops.

As plain Ken Macdonald he was the Director of Public Prosecutions who advised on the parameters and focus of the original – some say woeful – investigation into NoW hacking.


So, gamekeeper turned poacher!


BUT, more interestingly his Lordship was the subject of a newspaper sting over his relationship with a blonde, kick-boxing barrister.

And, presumably, had to submit to some tough cross-examination from his wife of 27 years.


So, the perfect man to represent a newspaper known to all us hacks forever as the Screws of the World.

http://blogs.news.sky.com/lifeofcrime/Post:a576fe7e-73a7-43b8-bba5-8196decb9b19

Calls To Halt BSkyB Deal Amid Hacking Scandal



http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Business/BSkyB-News-Corporation-Takeover-Bid-Critics-Call-For-Delay-Amid-Phone-Hacking-Scandal/Article/201107116025602?lpos=Business_Top_Stories_Header_3&lid=ARTICLE_16025602_BSkyB_News_Corporation_Takeover_Bid%3A_Critics_Call_For_Delay_Amid_Phone_Hacking_Scandal

It's getting worse by the hour.....................



6 July 2011 Last updated at 22:43

Dead soldiers' families 'hacked by newspaper'


The News of the World is at the centre of claims of phone hacking by journalists

Phones owned by relatives of dead UK soldiers were allegedly hacked by the News of the World, a national newspaper reports.

The Daily Telegraph claims the phone numbers of relatives of dead service personnel were found in the files of private investigator Glenn Mulcaire.

This comes after Prime Minister David Cameron said he would set up a public inquiry into alleged phone hacking.

Rupert Murdoch, the paper's owner, has called claims of hacking "deplorable".

News International said it would be "absolutely appalled and horrified" if there was any truth in the allegations relating to families of dead soldiers and it would be immediately contacting the Ministry of Defence.

A spokesman for the company said: "News International's record as a friend of the armed services and of our servicemen and servicewomen, is impeccable.

"Our titles have campaigned in support of the military over many years and will continue to do so. If these allegations are true we are absolutely appalled and horrified. We will be contacting the MoD immediately to try and verify the situation."

'Deplorable and unacceptable'

It comes after Mr Murdoch, the chairman of News Corporation, News International's parent company, commented on allegations of phone hacking at the News of the World.

He said: "Recent allegations of phone hacking and making payments to police with respect to the News of the World are deplorable and unacceptable."

In a statement, he added: "I have made clear that our company must fully and proactively co-operate with the police in all investigations and that is exactly what News International has been doing and will continue to do under Rebekah Brooks's leadership.

"We are committed to addressing these issues fully and have taken a number of important steps to prevent them from happening again."

Meanwhile, Scotland Yard has told George Osborne that his name and home phone number appeared on notes kept by Mulcaire and former News of the World reporter Clive Goodman, a spokesman for the chancellor said.

He said there was no suggestion that his phone had been hacked.

The prime minister has expressed disgust at claims that the voicemail of murdered girl Milly Dowler was hacked, and some messages deleted.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14052909