NoTW phone hacking scandal

[nona]

I apologise in advance if somebody doesn't like me starting this topic, or taking this post from random news thread. I just found this subject to be very interesting and I think there will be a lot more talk about this in coming days/weeks.

David Beckham is reportedly considering suing News of the World newspaper for allegedly hacking his phone.

The footballer, who believes he was the target of hackers throughout most of the past decade, has instructed solicitors to approach Scotland Yard to find out if his name is on a list of almost 4,000 possible victims contained in notebooks belonging to Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator, reports The Telegraph.

A News of the World source claimed that the phone hacking of Beckham, his wife Victoria and their family and friends was commonplace.

“They were always hacking the Beckhams,” claimed the insider.

The Beckhams’ solicitor, Gerrard Tyrell, is understood to have written to the police.

Tyrell, who often represents Princes William and Harry, has also made inquiries about the rest of their family, including the footballer’s parents and in-laws.

A source close to Beckham said: “There were a lot of David Beckham stories in the News of the World and it’s hard to decipher what may have come from genuine sources or from phone hacking. We are inquiring into it but as yet have had no confirmation.”

The News of the World, under the editorship of Andy Coulson, had won scoop of the year at the British Press Awards in 2005 for its disclosures the year before that Beckham allegedly had an affair with Rebecca Loos, his then personal assistant, while he was playing for Real Madrid.

The source said the origin of the story might have come as a result of phone hacking. “We have to assume his phone may have been hacked and that led to her [Loos] coming out with the story,” said the source.

The story was broken by Neville Thurlbeck, the tabloid’s chief reporter who was arrested earlier this year on suspicion of phone hacking.

“David was on the front pages probably more than any other celebrity in the decade from 2000 onwards,” the source added.

[nona]

I'm really interested in seeing how this ends. NoTW hacked everybody. I doubt that David and Victoria were exceptions. It's probably just a question of how far they went. Daily Star has a story about this (http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/view/20 ... AS-HACKED/) and they claim somebody tried to access Victoria’s medical records when she became pregnant with Brooklyn. I wouldn't be surprised if they hacked their families as well.
I read somewhere that David would sue if this proves to be true.
What do you think? Will he and Victoria want to go through all that again?

[grace4]

I think if they do sue, they will do so quietly- unless they manage to unearth where the Loos text messages came from.

Rebecca Brooks said that the NOTW had to be shut down becuase there are worse revelations to come in relation to the extent of its wrongdoing. We will have to wait and see. But one thing is certain- the demise of the NOTW has been spectacular.

[mel2vicem]

Obviously they were a target, they were probably the first celebrities on their 'to do' list. But the hacking was just of voice mail messages, so I don't know exactly what juicy info would be known through them?

[grace4]

the interception of voice mail messages is just the tip of the iceberg. NOTW are widely known to have used illegal methods to obtain information (e.g medical records, bank account details etc) and then using this information to obtain other information to create honey traps and create "evidence" for their stories.

The Loos story was, in many ways, no different to the Irma nici story (remember her lol!). Only difference is NOTW helped Loos get "evidence" for her claims whilst Nici chose the madam. It will be interesting to see how this all unfolds

[nona]

Rebecca Brooks said that the NOTW had to be shut down becuase there are worse revelations to come in relation to the extent of its wrongdoing. We will have to wait and see. But one thing is certain- the demise of the NOTW has been spectacular.

The revelation about paying bribe to police officers was shocking.
I have to admit, after NoTW was "killed off" I was pleased, and now it pisses me off. I wanna see News International dragged into this even deeper. The fact that they are claiming NoTW acted alone, without anyone's knowledge is an insult to the intelligence.

Grace, you're our resident legal expert, do you know what happens now if somebody wants to sue NoTW like Sienna Miller did? Who takes responsibility now?

[Suki]

What I have learnt during following the Beckhams is, don't trust the newspapers. I'm very anxious to see where all this will end. Hope it will proof that the R. Loos story was made up and not the other way around.

[nona]

^Unfortunately, I'm more inclined to believe things happened the way article on top says.

The source said the origin of the story might have come as a result of phone hacking. “We have to assume his phone may have been hacked and that led to her [Loos] coming out with the story,” said the source.

This is also interesting part.

The story was broken by Neville Thurlbeck, the tabloid’s chief reporter who was arrested earlier this year on suspicion of phone hacking.

[grace4]

Rebecca Brooks said that the NOTW had to be shut down becuase there are worse revelations to come in relation to the extent of its wrongdoing. We will have to wait and see. But one thing is certain- the demise of the NOTW has been spectacular.

The revelation about paying bribe to police officers was shocking.
I have to admit, after NoTW was "killed off" I was pleased, and now it pisses me off. I wanna see News International dragged into this even deeper. The fact that they are claiming NoTW acted alone, without anyone's knowledge is an insult to the intelligence.

Grace, you're our resident legal expert, do you know what happens know if somebody wants to sue NoTW like Sienna Miller did? Who takes responsibility now?

NOTW has simply stopped trading as a newspaper. Its owners- News Group Newspapers and ultimate parent, News International Limited- are still going so they will be the ones that face the wrap.

NOTW was never a legal entity in its own right. It was simply the name of a product which was published by News International- as is the Sun, the Sunday Times and the Times. So if you wanted to sue any of these papers, you always had to sue its owner. Under law, News International would not be allowed to simply wind itself up to escape liability. If it tried to do this, then the courts would "lift the corporate veil" and allow people to sue its true owners directly- i.e the Murdoch family.

The Murdoch family would not want this because unlike companies, people can actually be sent to jail!

[mel2vicem]

There will be no more 'revelations' about anyone, everything is clearly locked now and has gone the same way as the paper...to the grave.

Rebekah Brooks was actually an ally of the Beckhams during her reign as editor of the NOTW, quite sympathetic to them and she even went to a Real Madrid match with her then husband Ross Kemp, I remember seeing him playing with Romeo....it's when Andy Coulson took over that the NOTW tried to burst the Beckham bubble.

[grace4]

There will be no more 'revelations' about anyone, everything is clearly locked now and has gone the same way as the paper...to the grave.

Not so unfortunately. NOTW's offices is now a crime scene. You can't just bury the evidence by shutting down the newspaper. With two public enquiries and a police investigation, there will be arrests, trials and prison sentences. The Murdochs would not have shut down their cash cow if they didn't have to.

Plus the documents aren't locked away at all, they are with forensic experts and law firms instructed to bring proceedings. They are currently trying to figure out how a compensation scheme can be set up to compensate victims without the victims needing to sue NOTW.

[mel2vicem]

But I doubt any stories will come out from the evidence, that would be contempt of court.

[grace4]

^Unfortunately, I'm more inclined to believe things happened the way article on top says.

The source said the origin of the story might have come as a result of phone hacking. “We have to assume his phone may have been hacked and that led to her [Loos] coming out with the story,” said the source.

This is also interesting part.

The story was broken by Neville Thurlbeck, the tabloid’s chief reporter who was arrested earlier this year on suspicion of phone hacking.

It may also have been that Loos brought her story, but had no evidence. The facts as confirmed is that DB had multiple phones (10 or more) registered to his name for use by him and his staff. Loos was a member of staff. The messages were sent between a phone registered in his name and a phone registered in Loos' name. NOTW agreed not to repeat or republish their allegation of the affair. You only do this if you know that you do not have sufficient proof of the allegations made.

They wouldn't have feared being found to have hacked DB's phone because they said that the messages had been provided by Loos.

My theory is this - they saw those paparazzi pics of DB and Loos in the club and were convinced something was going on. They approached Loos and offered GBP 600,000 for her story (David had since moved to 19 Management and was no longer with SFX) and said- well we need proof. Proof was created and hey presto it is one persons word against the other.

Paul Mcmullan (ex NOTW features editor) pretty much confimed that this is how they got their kiss and tell stories (where the girl was being paid). They would tell the wannabe that the more details they provided, the more money they would get and that they often knew that the girl was making it up.

[grace4]

But I doubt any stories will come out from the evidence, that would be contempt of court.

No new stories on celebrities published, no. I think all of the new "revelations" will be about NOTW's behaviour and methods.
The documents will provide evidence that NOTW was essentially a criminal organisation - it had, to use Murdoch's term, become "toxic" and as a brand has zero credibility / reliability since they lied in their articles, lied to parliament, tried to intimidate and bribe their victims and were essentially untouchable for so long.

Bet this is painful for Coulson et al. Coulson will definitely do time for perjury at the very least.

[nona]

Paul Mcmullan (ex NOTW features editor) pretty much confimed that this is how they got their kiss and tell stories (where the girl was being paid). They would tell the wannabe that the more details they provided, the more money they would get and that they often knew that the girl was making it up.

I heard this. And I believe it's true. But I still can't convince myself that David is innocent in the whole story. I don't understand why he didn't sue. He sued that Irma woman, although he had virtually no chance against "freedom of speach" law.
D&V have obviously moved on from that time, whatever the truth is. I'd hate to see them dragged through the mud again.

[grace4]

Paul Mcmullan (ex NOTW features editor) pretty much confimed that this is how they got their kiss and tell stories (where the girl was being paid). They would tell the wannabe that the more details they provided, the more money they would get and that they often knew that the girl was making it up.

I heard this. And I believe it's true. But I still can't convince myself that David is innocent in the whole story. I don't understand why he didn't sue. He sued that Irma woman, although he had virtually no chance against "freedom of speach" law.
D&V have obviously moved on from that time, whatever the truth is. I'd hate to see them dragged through the mud again.

He didn't sue Irma Nici, he sued In-Touch for publishing her claims. He sued NOTW and they settled out of court with NOTW agreeing not to repeat the story and to remove it from public records. If you google the story, the original NOTW article will not come up. If they were 100% certain of their story, they wouldn't have agreed to this. Instead they would have taken the case to a full trial and enjoyed many more months of front page "Court exclusives". I think at the very least, they were not 100% confident in Loos' story, but chose to run it anyway.

Just a theory

[nona]

^Thanks for the recap. I have to admit I didn't follow those events closely at the time. Don't have that much interest, and definitely don't have the stomach to research that now. Court settlement does make it seem like NoTW wasn't interested in digging deeper, that could be due to hacking, but David didn't clear his name either. NoTW didn't repeat the story but many others did. Maybe they don't say "mistress" but "alleged mistress", but that hardly makes things better. Also when NoTW published the final issue, on their web site you could see some 40 covers that they chose as their "top covers" or something like that. The Loos story was among those.

[Aries]

He did sue Irma Nici as well as In Touch.

Can someone please explain to me when did they sue NOTW? After what was published? And how do you know what they settled on out of court?

I know people don't like to talk about this stuff, but I find this whole NOTW mess fascinating

[nona]

I researched anyway...
Telegraph has David Beckham timeline, published when Nici story came out. This is what it says about Loos story.
Beckham has dismissed the allegations as "ludicrous" in the case of Ms Loos and "absurd and unsubstantiated" in the case of Ms Marbeck but has never sued.

And this is about suing NoTW.
April 2005 Beckhams’ former nanny Abbie Gibson sells story to News of the World for £125,000. The couple fail in a High Court bid to prevent her selling her information and articles are published claiming the couple’s marriage was a sham, that the allegations by Danielle Heath are true and that he had more affairs. The Beckhams sue over the article.

March 2006 Beckhams reach out of court settlement with the News of the World. The settlement is thought to include an agreement that the paper does not repeat allegations about any of his affairs.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footba ... eline.html

[grace4]

He did sue Irma Nici as well as In Touch.

Can someone please explain to me when did they sue NOTW? After what was published? And how do you know what they settled on out of court?

I know people don't like to talk about this stuff, but I find this whole NOTW mess fascinating

thy brought an action in 2005 which would have dealt with all the allegations. It was this 2005 case that was settled out of court.

[Aries]

Seriously you look at that Telegraph article and I have no idea how Victoria has stayed with him. Maybe some of it's true, maybe some of it's not but I could never have stayed with him after being subjected to all of that. There has been cheating stories the whole time they have been together.

Thanks for your help guys.

[mel2vicem]

Well they could've just done nothing at all, I don't believe Rooney, Cole, Giggs etc commented on their stories being "ludicrous", they maybe just commented or sued based on "privacy grounds"....

[Aries]

Well they could've just done nothing at all, I don't believe Rooney, Cole, Giggs etc commented on their stories being "ludicrous", they maybe just commented or sued based on "privacy grounds"....

If you are going to bother to say it's ludicrous, why not say it's untrue if it's untrue? He said it was untrue when it came to Heath and Nici. Anyways, the whole NOTW thing is crazy. The head of Scotland Yard resigned. They are taking everyone down with them.

[grace4]

Well they could've just done nothing at all, I don't believe Rooney, Cole, Giggs etc commented on their stories being "ludicrous", they maybe just commented or sued based on "privacy grounds"....

If you are going to bother to say it's ludicrous, why not say it's untrue if it's untrue? He said it was untrue when it came to Heath and Nici. Anyways, the whole NOTW thing is crazy. The head of Scotland Yard resigned. They are taking everyone down with them.

He did deny it. I think they closed ranks and did all their talking in court documents after the whole thing went viral. With these things, the truth always outs eventaully.

I hope Spielberg is looking for a suitable script for "NOTW the movie"

[Aries]

For real! And Hugh Grant could be Hught Grant. And Sienna Miller could be Sienna Miller and so on and so forth.... lol