In the Media

Police pass another two phone hacking files to prosecutors

PUBLISHED June 18, 2012
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Scotland Yard handed the files to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) on Friday as part of its Operation Weeting investigation into the alleged illegal interception of voicemail messages.

Police have now passed on 14 dossiers of evidence relating to their linked inquiries into allegations of phone-hacking, email hacking and illegal payments to public officials.

Prosecutors are still considering files about another five journalists accused of phone-hacking and three police officers facing allegations of misconduct in a public office.

The CPS has so far launched prosecutions relating to only one of the files, which covers allegations that six people, including Rebekah Brooks, the former News International chief executive, and her husband Charlie, a racehorse trainer and Daily Telegraph columnist, plotted to hide evidence of phone-hacking from the police.

Prosecutors have decided to take no further action in relation to three of the files, involving Amelia Hill and David Leigh, journalists with The Guardian, and Neville Thurlbeck, former chief reporter of the News of the World.

A CPS spokesman said: "We are not prepared to discuss the identities of those involved or the alleged offences in any greater detail at this stage as a number of related investigations are ongoing.

"We are unable to give any timescale for charging decisions, except to say that these cases are being considered very carefully and thoroughly, and the decisions will be made as soon as is practicable."

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