News of the World phone hacking scandal

Bangpuss

Bangpuss

Well-known member
‎"I have grave doubts that my wife will ever get a fair trial, given the volume of biased commentary which she has been subject to." Charlie Brooks.

I wonder what Chris Jefferies, or as the Sun referred to him, "The Strange Mr Jefferies" has to say about that.
 
IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
I think you would have to have the surname Brooks not to appreciate the irony of that (ie Brooks') statement.
 
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Tentative Andy

Tentative Andy

I'm in the Meal Deal
Basically adds up to 'I was in favor of the bid and communicated with James Murdoch about it, but when it came time to officially consider it I put aside all my personal sympathies - and then just happened to approve it in a totally objective way'. How convenient!

OTOH it seems a promising development that Coulson has been charged for the perjury, yes?
 
B

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
"I asked myself, if they found it necessary to close down whole paper, this is a big big decision for News Corporation, is there a corporate governance issue here? Is this a company that actually doesn't have control of what's going on in its own company?"

He's a smart one.
 
IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
But Conservative MP Louise Mensch told the BBC "he (Hunt) has been completely exonerated today".
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That's alright then!
Amazing double-think! Same the other day when the email came out from Hunt to Cameron saying that he was in favour of the bid (sent before he was appointed to oversee the decision) and Cameron's office released a statement to say that the email bore out what he'd always said - no it didn't! It said the exact fucking opposite of what he'd always said. Completely amazing.
Even if we accept that Hunt was able to "put aside" his feelings about the bid (and you would have to be a childishly naive moron to do so) what about the fact that he lied when he said that he hadn't had any contact with News International?
Coulson is surely fucked now anyway - I reckon he'll be in jail before Brooks or anyone else. Cameron is looking worse and worse, he ignored the advice about Coulson, appointed Hunt to run the bid despite knowing his views and discussed it with Brooks (who has also been arrested). Oh dear oh dear.
Also Osbourne texted Hunt to say "I hope you like our solution" after Hunt had complained about the way the bid was being treated and the oversight of the bid was being passed to him.
As an aside - the Guardian journalist who was a whistle-blower in this and was vindictively arrested has been released without charge.
 
Sectionfive

Sectionfive

bandwagon house
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Patrick Swayze

Patrick Swayze

I'm trying to shut up
Mr. Tea said:
Should stimulate some gleeful hand-rubbing, I'd have thought:

Detective guilty of offering NoW leak for cash
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Casburn is of previous good character and has a flawless disciplinary record within the Met police. The mother of two adult children, she left school after O-levels. She joined the Met in 1993 and served in the child protection unit before moving onto counter-terrorism.

She is currently suspended and faces the sack. She detailed to the jury how she had suffered two years of bullying within the counter-terrorism unit, and as the only woman within her department had not been given a desk.
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the details she leaked

It read: "PHONE TAPPING. A senior policewoman ... who claims to be working on the phone-tapping investigation wants to sell inside info on the police inquiry. She says the investigation was launched yesterday (Fri) by Yates and he is using 'counter-terrorist assets', which is highly unusual. An intelligence development team is being used and they are looking at six people. Coulson, Hoare and a woman she cannot remember the name of. The three other people used to work for the News of the World and police do not know where they are now (she did not know their names either).

"Pressure to conduct the inquiry is coming from Lord Prescott. The problem police have is that the offences committed are probably not criminal but summary offences which only have a six-month prosecution period, which has now been used up. Therefore no charges can be brought. Another factor to do with any charges is that if the messages were listened to after the owner of the phone had accessed the messages the case is civil. If the messages were listened to before they were accessed by the phone's owner then it is a telecommunications offence. The caller refused to give her name and is happy for us to call her back but start by asking her 'if she is alright to talk'."
Click to expand...


seems like a scapegoat tbh. they've used the met corruption scandal to get rid of someone who was denouncing internal decisions and challenging her superiors.
 
Bangpuss

Bangpuss

Well-known member
The insanity of our justice system is that on one of the clearest-cut cases of guilt you're likely to come across, I can conceive of Brooks and Coulson both getting five years, or six months suspended, or getting off. They all seem totally possible in our uneven, unpredictable justice system.

Seeing as they're pleading not guilty, it's going to jury trial, which I think makes it more likely they'll be found guilty, because that trial has been so prejudiced by the previous media attention. But once it comes to sentencing (if they're found guilty), our judges are so inconsistent, it's almost as if they spin the Wheel of Fortune in their chambers and then come out and announce the sentence.

Wait, now I think about it, my crystal ball (borrowed from the local magistrate) tells me they're going to get off. They're going to have some hot-shot lawyers who will spin the whole "we honestly didn't know even though we should have known" angle. Cunts.
 
Bangpuss

Bangpuss

Well-known member
Can you get odds on big trials like these from Ladbrokes? I think that would be a really good idea. Especially as the defendant, you know how fucked you are, and can plead accordingly. You can also 'go short' on your verdict, so that no matter what happens, you at least stand to win some money if you're found guilty.
 
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