James Murdoch ‘knew about hacking email’

FORMER News of the World legal chief Tom Crone told MPs today he is "certain" that James Murdoch knew about the so-called 'For Neville' email, the message that suggests senior journalists knew about the use of phone hacking at the tabloid.

Murdoch, the CEO of News Corp Europe, told a Commons committee in July that he had no knowledge of the email when he gave Crone authorisation to reach a settlement with Gordon Taylor, the Professional Footballers' Association chief executive, who had launched a legal action after learning his voicemail account may have been hacked.

Murdoch's denial was important because the For Neville email appears to implicate people other than former NotW journalist Clive Goodman and private investigator Glen Mulcaire in phone hacking - undermining the paper's claim the activity was the work of a 'rogue reporter'. The email was a transcript of Taylor's voicemail messages and is alleged to indicate that the NotW's chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck knew about phone hacking.

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Giving evidence today to the House of Commons culture committee, Crone said the email was "clear evidence that phone hacking was taking place beyond Clive Goodman". He added: "It was the reason we had to settle the case and in order to settle the case, we had to explain the case to Mr Murdoch and get his authority to settle, so certainly it would have been discussed."

What next?

The apparent discrepancy between James Murdoch's claim he did not know about the For Neville email and Crone's repeated claims that he did means that MPs will want Murdoch to explain himself. "It looks more likely now that the committee will want James Murdoch to reappear at some future date," says BBC political correspondent Ben Geoghegan.