Police want to know if the hacking extended to the McCanns.

News of the World phone hacking: Police review all child abduction casesDetectives to examine every case involving attacks on children since 2001 in response to Milly Dowler phone hacking.
Amelia Hill, James Robinson, Sam Jones, Nick Davies and Dan Sabbagh guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 5 July 2011 22.04

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 her 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.

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.

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."

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

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 was the editor of the News of the World at the time the hacking of Milly Dowler's phone messages took place.

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 a 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."

Calls 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, calling for direct boycotts of the firms unless they took their advertising money elsewhere.

John Bercow, the speaker of Commons, granted a rare emergency 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.

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."

I doubt the McC's and pals would be stupid enough to leave each other incriminating voice-mail messages.

Surely if they had, it would have been all over the news by now?

the way things are going in Rupert Murdoch world, someone will probably get sued for tapping their phones and incriminating evidence would get thrown out...

I think the McCanns were savvy enough not to get caught - they were well primed about the possibility of surveillance and no doubt the deleting shows they were aware of phone tapping as well. The had Control Risks working for them and had their home searched for any bugs on their return to Britain so they new the risks.

Yes i had read that Control Risks had checked their phones, did nt someone give them different phones when in Portugal so doubt anyone could do any hacking there.

If I remember, someone told Mitchell that the mccanns are going to be tapped....warned them.



So no, their not stupid their just using this situation, like they always do.

tanszi wrote:Yes i had read that Control Risks had checked their phones, did nt someone give them different phones when in Portugal so doubt anyone could do any hacking there.

IIRC it was some relative of Paynes.

As this case was so huge from a news point of view, at that time anyway, I too would be most surprised if their phones hadn't been hacked. I hope to God that this won't prejudice any future trial.

Whether their phones were hacked or not will make no difference to the McCanns. They, or their advisers/spin doctor will simply exploit the hacking scandal and use any scenario that shows them as innocent victims of the tragic disappearance of their daughter of which they played no part.

If they were hacked we would off got more stories than we did.


Most off the stories were regurgitated from the portuguese newspapers.

Using a diff phone whilst in portugual smacks off the mccanns knowing that this could happen that's why they got diff phones

I think the Mcs would have been hacked too, the biggest story of the year? and it seems the NOTW thought it acceptable to interfere in the phone records of Milly Dowler then it stands to reason they'd fish around the Mcs.

Expect more chest beating and wailing from them.

But then again, look at what Mitchell said.....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12245765

"I was always concerned that if some journalists were up to this sort of thing that I might be a target but I had no proof," he said.

Mr Mitchell was told that records of calls made and received were routinely destroyed after about a year.

This was a cack-handed, pretty low-level, amateurish attempt. I'm angry, I'm shocked by it but I'm not surprised”

However, he was provided with some information including details of calls made to Vodafone about his account.

Two instances were drawn to his attention, the first one on 29 February 2008.

Mr Mitchell said: "The operator lists it, saying 'a gentleman called wishing to check the phone', as he gets calls each night from the number and wanting information and is a 'witness on the CID trial for McCanns'.

"Well, that doesn't make sense. It certainly wasn't me that made that call. I would never use that phraseology and there was no such thing as a CID trial for the McCanns. It's ridiculous.

"That appears to me to be a blatant attempt to get information about whose number it was and what was happening. Thankfully the operator didn't give them anything."

Another call was made to Vodafone customer services in July 2008.

Mr Mitchell said: "Basically it [the entry] claims the person ringing - not me, I stress - had received a text message, claiming that a third party had been trying to access their voicemail but there was nothing on the account showing that.

"Well, that's because it isn't true. I never got such a text. Somebody else is again fishing for information here. The Vodafone operator believed they were talking to me as the account holder, that's why they listed it as customer."

Mr Mitchell says he knows "absolutely" that he did not make either call.

On both occasions, he says, "thankfully" the phone company's security measures worked and no information was divulged.

To his frustration, due to the lack of other information now available, he says he cannot trace who might have done this. Handy if not true!

"It is impossible to state with any accuracy who was behind these calls. Given the situation that I was in at the time now where have we heard that phrase before? and the amount of journalistic inquiry and traffic that I was receiving on that number, it would be naive of me to think that it wasn't journalistic in its nature.

"This was a cack-handed, pretty low-level, amateurish attempt. I'm angry, I'm shocked by it but I'm not surprised."

Mr Mitchell also said that Kate and Gerry McCann, of Rothley, Leicestershire, had a "very dim view" of some sections of the British press l'm sure the feeling's mutual and therefore had a "world-weariness" about the situation.

"They're angered by this and will be upset, but again, like myself, in some respects not surprised that somebody could be so stupid as to possibly try this," he said.

----

It's important to add that so far the hacking extended to keying in the default pin number on the mobiles and listening to messages (and in the case of Milly Dowlers phone, deleting messages) so actually ringing the phone provider Vodaphone, and pretending to be Mitchell would be above and beyond what's already been going on and IMO maybe did not happen since Mitchell claims the number can't be traced (handy!) but WOULD have been known to Vodaphone, so if they have records of those two calls why not the callers numbers? I don't believe that.

margaret

I agree - it does sound rather like - what's the word I'm looking for, ah, yes - spin.

I had to make a call to 02 about victors phone that wasn't working and she wouldnt give me the information as you need certain security questions that only the OWNER off the phone knows


I don't believe Mitchell.....they wouldn't ring up the network an get silly questions asked

There is a looped feature on the BBC website - Clarence keeps popping up every 10 minutes or so :-)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-14042764

I don't know about everyone else, but I am starting to feel left out. My phone hasn't been hacked. My hubby's hasn't either and he feels left out as well. What can we do to rectify this matter.

Keela wrote:I don't know about everyone else, but I am starting to feel left out. My phone hasn't been hacked. My hubby's hasn't either and he feels left out as well. What can we do to rectify this matter.

You will have to claim you have been abducted Keela.

Keela wrote:I don't know about everyone else, but I am starting to feel left out. My phone hasn't been hacked. My hubby's hasn't either and he feels left out as well. What can we do to rectify this matter.

I bet the mccanns are hoping and praying that their phones have been hacked.......kerching!

Roasted Arizona wrote:I bet the mccanns are hoping and praying that their phones have been hacked.......kerching!

It depends what was said in the phone conversation RA........what if it was something like "Hi Clarence, your sure now the £300,000 transferred to the
Bank Account in our name opened in the Caymen Islands can"t be traced back to us ? We have decided to pay BK the commission of 10% out of the Fund Expenses ." Can you imagine it!!!

All they have been hacking into is the voice mail. So unless someone was dumb enough to leave an incriminating voice mail message on Gerry or Kate's phone this is a false hope.

Hunger4Unger wrote:All they have been hacking into is the voice mail. So unless someone was dumb enough to leave an incriminating voice mail message on Gerry or Kate's phone this is a false hope.

Thanks, I didn"t know it was just the voice mail.....as you say no one would say anything incriminating.

JUST SAID OR INFERRED ON CH5 NEWS THAT PARENTS PHONES WERE HACKED.

Badboy wrote:JUST SAID OR INFERRED ON CH5 NEWS THAT PARENTS PHONES WERE HACKED.

Hi Badboy, Clarence Mitchell jumped on the bandwagon weeks ago saying he thought his phone was being hacked. By association thoughts go to the
McCanns, more free publicity ....cheap tacky way of keeping them in the Press, but as a hungerforunger said, it"s only the voicemail that is affected
so they are hardly likely to say anything incriminating.

it showed the picture of madeleine biting her lip,know the one