VIDEO - Leveson Inquiry (Update Dec 21) David Pilditch - Diary - Colin Myler & Dan Sanderson

That response from Clarrie is hilarious.
More holes than an elephant-sized piece of Emmental.

If that's the way yer average PR negotiates with the media, remind me never to hire one ...

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NOTW Reporter Apology For McCann Diaries

• 5 Comments
  
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7:39pm UK, Thursday December 15, 2011



David Bowden, senior correspondent






The News Of The World reporter who wrote the story about
Kate McCann's diaries has apologised and admitted the article should
never have been published.


Daniel Sanderson told the Leveson Inquiry he believed the private
thoughts were published with the family's permission, and he only
learned of Mrs McCann's distress when she gave evidence to the inquiry
into press ethics three weeks ago.


"I feel very bad," he said.


Mr Sanderson told the hearing that he had been asked to find the
diaries after snippets began appearing in other newspapers. He contacted
two papers in Portugal before getting in touch with one particular
reporter.


A Spanish freelance journalist was sent to pick up the copy of the
diaries, which had been translated into Portuguese by the local police.


They had to then be re-translated back into English before publication in the Sunday tabloid.


:: As it happened: Re-live updates from the Sky News team at the inquiry









Also appearing before the hearing has been private detective Derek
Webb - who claims he spied on celebrities for the now-defunct newspaper.


Mr Sanderson said: "I have every intention of apologising to the
McCanns for my involvement in the story, I did feel very bad that my
involvement had made Mrs McCann feel the way that it had.


"Why was it the wrong decision to publish? Because they didn't have
permission to, they didn't have Mrs McCann's Permission to publish that
story."


The inquiry chairman, Lord Justice Leveson, took Mr Sanderson to task
over the story saying the diary was "an intensely personal document".


He went on: "As you read it for the first time did you think you had
any business writing a word of it without making sure that this truly
was what they wanted?"


Mr Sanderson replied: "Seeking the McCann's permission wasn't in my sphere of responsibility."


The editor of the News of the World at the time was Colin Myler.


He has already apologised for printing the diaries, but he told the
inquiry that some of the coverage of the Madeleine McCann story was
indefensible.


"I think that there were some aspects particularly through the McCann
era in the early days when Madeleine went missing that were truly
appalling - and by any standards of journalism they should never have
appeared in stories in this country."


Mr Myler spoke of an industry he described as "dysfunctional" and
like "a war zone" and said maybe it was time for the press to reflect on
its morals.


He was challenged about phone hacking at the News of World when he arrived in 2007.


"I always had some discomfort," he said.


"I felt that there could have been bombs under the newsroom floor but
I didn't know where they were and I didn't know when they were going to
go off."


Slowly but surely Leveson is shining light into the darkest recesses
of how the press operates in this country and the view so far is far
from pleasant.


Next week the spotlight will fall on arguably the most famous former
tabloid editor of the moment, Piers Morgan, who will give evidence to
the inquiry on Tuesday.


:: A 37-year-old woman arrested by appointment over suspicion
of alleged offences, including illegal payments to police, is named as
Lucy Panton, former crime editor at the NOTW.

tanszi wrote:can someone tell me please exactly where it is definitely said that the copy of the diary notes came from the Portuguese police.

Dan Sanderson said he was asked to locate a copy of the diary entries which had already appeared in the press in Portugal. After making some enquiries he established that they were in the hands of a Portuguese journalist. It was arranged that the material was collected by a journalist in Spain and delivered to the News of the World offices. Once they arrived, he looked at them and they were in Portuguese and appeared to be official documents which had markings on them which indicated that they had come from the Portguese police. He said this during his questioning at the enquiry.

Wintabells wrote:

tanszi wrote:can someone tell me please exactly where it is definitely said that the copy of the diary notes came from the Portuguese police.

Dan Sanderson said he was asked to locate a copy of the diary entries which had already appeared in the press in Portugal. After making some enquiries he established that they were in the hands of a Portuguese journalist. It was arranged that the material was collected by a journalist in Spain and delivered to the News of the World offices. Once they arrived, he looked at them and they were in Portuguese and appeared to be official documents which had markings on them which indicated that they had come from the Portguese police. He said this during his questioning at the enquiry.

I wonder who's handwriting was on them.

How nice for Kate - she gets to have her tissue of fabrications published, and also gets to sue someone for doing so.

Just a thought, on Tuesday Myler referred to an email that he had that showed the McCanns PR spin doctor Mitchell had agreed with printing Kate's diary.

What happened overnight for him to decide not to refer to this yesterday? Surely he would have boned up on the evidence available in his defence before going to the Enquiry so he would have had the email ready.

So why the volte face?

There seems to be a conflict of reports on what exactly happened. On the one hand we have the report that both Gerry and Clarence knew before the
article was published in the NOTW, on the other we now have the reporter apologising to Kate because he thought she knew the Report was being
published. The point is, the McCanns received £120,000 for the Fund ........if they DID NOT know it was to be published , wouldn"t they have taken legal action to get more money?

Wintabells wrote:

tanszi wrote:can someone tell me please exactly where it is definitely said that the copy of the diary notes came from the Portuguese police.

Dan Sanderson said he was asked to locate a copy of the diary entries which had already appeared in the press in Portugal. After making some enquiries he established that they were in the hands of a Portuguese journalist. It was arranged that the material was collected by a journalist in Spain and delivered to the News of the World offices. Once they arrived, he looked at them and they were in Portuguese and appeared to be official documents which had markings on them which indicated that they had come from the Portguese police. He said this during his questioning at the enquiry.

Just to add - his answer is at around 138.54 here http://www.levesoninquiry.org.uk/hearing/2011-12-15am/

If Dan Sanderson firmly believed the diary would not be published without the Mc's approval - did he not question why he was having to source a copy from Portugal rather and go to he trouble of having it translated into English when it would have been simpler to just get a copy of the original from directly from the Mc's??? If they are consenting to its publication why would they not do that??

Its going a bit around the houses isn't it? Or was it imperative that the story was based on a Portugese version in order to try and pin down the provenence to the (filthy) Portugese Police??

Of course it would have had to be done through this Portugese version to stop Kate had looking mercenary by airing her 'private' thoughts in exchange for ££££££'s

So could the conversation and the deal with Michell have been that it would be ok to publish the diary as long as it was not seen to have come directly from the Mc's and that their hands were kept clean!!!?????

Wintabells wrote:

Wintabells wrote:

tanszi wrote:can someone tell me please exactly where it is definitely said that the copy of the diary notes came from the Portuguese police.

Dan Sanderson said he was asked to locate a copy of the diary entries which had already appeared in the press in Portugal. After making some enquiries he established that they were in the hands of a Portuguese journalist. It was arranged that the material was collected by a journalist in Spain and delivered to the News of the World offices. Once they arrived, he looked at them and they were in Portuguese and appeared to be official documents which had markings on them which indicated that they had come from the Portguese police. He said this during his questioning at the enquiry.

Just to add - his answer is at around 138.54 here http://www.levesoninquiry.org.uk/hearing/2011-12-15am/

Does Dan Sanderson speak Portuguese? So he said the copies were "official looking" (PJ said simply photocopied pages for their own use) and "had markings which indicated they had come from Portuguese police" (not journalists markings - would he know the difference if he didn't speak Portuguese).

Als alraed said if he had any sense of ethics as he stated that he did to leveson - if he had reason to believe these were for official police enquiry why did he agree to write his blurb and why not flag it up to Edmondson or Myler.

This volte face from NOTW on Thursday Morning stinks to me (Why did Myler suddenly change his tune)?. I wish they had run the whole McCann thing in one day - who knows what may have come out then.

NoStone wrote:If Dan Sanderson firmly believed the diary would not be published without the Mc's approval - did he not question why he was having to source a copy from Portugal rather and go to he trouble of having it translated into English when it would have been simpler to just get a copy of the original from directly from the Mc's??? If they are consenting to its publication why would they not do that??

Its going a bit around the houses isn't it? Or was it imperative that the story was based on a Portugese version in order to try and pin down the provenence to the (filthy) Portugese Police??

Of course it would have had to be done through this Portugese version to stop Kate had looking mercenary by airing her 'private' thoughts in exchange for ££££££'s

So could the conversation and the deal with Michell have been that it would be ok to publish the diary as long as it was not seen to have come directly from the Mc's and that their hands were kept clean!!!?????

Hi NoStone, I"m pretty sure the McCanns knew the diary had been published in Portugal, their Lawyer would have told them. I also think that by getting
involved in this enquiry which was meant to be about phone-hacking they have made a big mistake. All this happened 3 years ago and the fact it is now
known they received £120,000 will not be lost on the Public.

I find the enquiry very odd..

Hipwell has stated that the daily mirror hacked Into phones yet they don't want to examine and cross examine him for hours....why not?

Isnt it about phone hacking ?


Don't they want to get to the bottom of this?


Yet, they let the mccanns moan and groan about the newspapers about how rotten they were to them (only AFTER they were made arquido off course) which went on for hours.....and that had absolutely NOTHING to do with phone hacking!

When will Portuguese Police start standing up for themselves.



I makes me sick that, well it is obvious to me, Mitchell consented to the publishing off the diary and the mccanns knew about it.


The journo in Portugal only published snippets, why not all off it...obviously this journo didn't have the diary in it's entirety to publish it, so who did .


The pj had the diary , it is an offence to do what the leveson enquiry are stipulating, so who is left, who else had this diary in it's entirety ....the mccanns.

But why publish it and now complain..


Two reasons.......one....money off course...and two .....the leveson enquiry was coming up....let's get on their, discredit the pj....mr amaral was coordinator who they happen to be suing in Feb....


Off course the leveson enquiry was an after thought and came up just at the right time...


It's always been about money and discrediting the pj and mr amaral ...always.....and everything is slotting onto place nicely for them and I would like to know.....why is the leveson enquiry about phone hacking....it should be renamed ...the poor McCann enquiry ....all we hear is.....poor mccanns.....day after day her diary....why.....it's about bloody phone hacking.

Live today from the guardian:


Leveson accuses Express journalist of writing 'tittle tattle' about Madeleine McCann


reddit this



Lisa O'Carroll and Jason Deans

guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 21 December 2011 13.07 GMT
Article history

This page will update automatically every minute: On | Off



Leveson inquiry: James Hipwell said the then editor Piers Morgan had his phone hacked by a showbiz journalist at the Mirror.


1.06pm: The Leveson inquiry has now broken for lunch and will resume at 2.05pm.

12.59pm: Sherborne wants to put it on record that there is nothing in the police files to suggest that Madeleine's DNA was found in a car referred to in one of Pilditch's articles.

Leveson explains he is conducting an investigation into press ethics but is happy to put it on record that this is indeed the case.



Everybody is agreed that there is absolutely no foundation at all for the allegation that emerged throughout the press at this time that Dr and Dr McCann were involved in any way, in any inappropriate conduct in relation to the disappearance of their daughter.

That doesn't need to be established for me. In the same way I wasn't going to go into what happened with the City Slickers column, this is very much a side issue.

12.50pm: James Dingemans, for Northern and Shell is objecting to questions being raised by David Sherborne with no prior notice.

12.46pm: Pilditch has now finished being questioned by the leading counsel and David Sherborne, barrister for the "victims" of press is on his feet.

12.42pm: Leveson puts it to Pilditch that he was repackaging "tittle tattle" that exposed newspapers to massive damage claims.

Leveson asks did Pilditch make the paper aware of the "extreme fragility" of the information?


All the things that are being written, about the priest ... it's all fluff, there's nothing to it

Pilditch says:


It's not tittle tattle, because it was information coming from senior detectives who were investigating the case.

12.38pm: Jay asks if "people like you" thought about the impact of their "stories which imply that the child has not been abducted but something far more sinister has happened".

Jay asks if Pilditch considered if this would add "to the emotional turmoil" of the parents.

Pilditch says:


I think I explained, there is emotional turmoil, but I'm reporting what's happening on the ground, that particular day.

12.29pm: The inquiry is now talking about the priest who helped comfort the McCanns in Portugal in the wake of their daughter's disappearance.

Referring to a story about the "tormented police", Jay observes "this is rather a loaded story".


The priest, it says, felt under tremendous emotional strain because of some sort of confession had been given to him by Dr Kate McCann. The story says 'The tormented priest insisted he would stand by his vows and take his secrets to the grave'.

Jay says it was 'journalistic licence' to assert 'that the priest not merely stands by his religious obligation but that he would be taking the secret to his grave because he was given a confession by Dr McCann'.

He says everything in this last sentence about the grave is an "inference".

"You weren't told that by anyone were you?

12.19pm: Jay says a further Express story reporting DNA "findings" that Madeleine's body had been in the spare tyre-well in the boot was also inaccurate.

The DNA evidence was "at best inconclusive", says Jay. He refers to the testimony of the McCann's four weeks ago who said it was "simply untrue" .

"Madeleine's DNA was not uncovered in the hire car," Jay points out.

Pilditch says "we know that now, but we didn't know that then" adding the local police were briefing that there were links.

12.16pm: Jay is now quizzing Pilditch about the language used in a story that referred to the "10 fingers of suspicion".

The story also reports that "Portuguese detectives could fly to Britain for make-or-break interviews".

Jay puts it to him that the language is "quite heightened" and Pilditch is making it sound like guilt or innocence would turn on these interviews.

Pilditch says he can't remember if he wrote the exact words – the article was written four years ago.

Leveson now asks "whether he reads his own stories?"

12.13pm: The inquiry is discussing the mundanities of newsgathering and hearing how reporters may have "filed" some copy for a story but may not make the final cut. However their byline may still appear on the story.
Kate and Gerry McCann Photograph: Rui Vieira/PA
12.09pm: Pilditch explains that he can't comment on the story even though his name is on it.

He explains his "part" in the story and it would have been "inserted" into the story by the newsdesk or the reporter compiling the story.

12.05pm: The inquiry is now talking about a series of defamatory articles written in the Express.

He is being asked if he was responsible for the headline on one story naming the McCanns as "prime suspects".

Pilditch says this would be the job of the editor or the night editor.

The story starts by saying "Kate and Gerry McCann are still regarded as the prime suspects in the disappearance of their daughter".

Pilditch explains he "didn't really write this story"; that it had another journalist, "Nick Fagge's name on it".

12.03pm: Pilditch explains that the McCanns engaged a PR man, Clarence Mitchell, who commented on every story, that this was "a black propaganda" campaign and there was no evidence to back up the claim [that the McCanns were suspects].

He says that senior detectives in the Portuguese police were briefing "off the record".

12.01pm: Pilditch says this was an important development in the story.



This was a very big story, obviously there would be discussions on the newspapers from lawyers, all sorts of parties involved. The actual legal aspects would be something that the lawyers would be discussing.

If you put it into context of the story. The story was such a huge story

.

11.57am: When the McCann's were named as "aguidos", it was not something that could be ignored.

The lawyers in Portugal said that effectively an aguido is a suspect and it gives the police an opportunity to put much tougher questions than they would to a witness and I think the McCanns themselves were given very tough questions.

Leveson intercepts and suggests it's like "active proceedings" in UK law when reporting restrictions are in place for the press.

11.55am: Pilditch says he shared his discomfiture with his newsdesk


We may not be able to defend these things because we may not be able to get confirmation. They took that on board.

He added:



I am not a legal expert, but I felt that the situation as it presented itself, that was the case. I'm certain the newsdesk would have conversations with lawyers about this.

There would have been discussions - that was the situation we were in and there was no way around it.

11.52am: Due to the secrecy of Portuguese justice laws Pilditch says it was impossible to report the story to a legally sound standard normally expected of reporters.


I knew that the reports were correct but I also knew that because there was no confirmation there were going to be difficulties if any complaints were made.

11.45am: Pilditch says in the absence of direct police information, he befriended local journalists who had good contacts with the local police.

He identifies three of his "best sources" – two Portuguese journalists who were in daily contact with the senior investigating officers and a translator.

11.43am: Pilditch explains how stories about suspects would emerge.


The police had been round the resort and other areas on their own inquiries and we were finding out lines of inquiries from local people. They were given descriptions of potential suspects and when a whole lot of witnesses give the same description you have a pretty good idea of what the police were working on.

11.42am: Pilditch explains "there was no strategy, just confusion all round, when there should have been focus".

Leveson asks was that not the story? Pilditch says "that was the story we were writing in the early stages".
Leveson inquiry: David Pilditch
11.41am: Pilditch says there was "a lot of pressure" to cover the story which had attracted large international interest.

11.39am: Pilditch says "getting to the truth" of the matter was "impossible to find" because of the laws in Portugal.


Certainly in relation to the police investigation, in a story like this you would expect the primary information would be coming from the police and in this case that just didn't happen. You are in an impossible situation, because you try and do everything to get to the bottom of what happened Madeleine McCann. That was left to the parents in this case.

11.37am: Pilditch explains he has been a journalist for 26 years.

He is a general news reporter at the Daily Express and has been called to the inquiry to discuss the paper's coverage of the Madeleine McCann story.

He went to Portugal in 2007 and was there six times between then and 2008. He was there for six weeks on his first visit.

11.36am: David Pilditch, a former Mirror reporter who has also worked for the Express is about to be sworn in.

"I think the McCanns themselves were given very tough questions."


They must have been really difficult, because no answers were forthcoming.

At the risk of repeating myself, why are the McCanns brought into this enquiry again? Everyone knows The Express forked out £925,000 + legal fees to the
McCanns and the Tapas 7. this was for libel, not phone hacking........I think Leveson is out of order.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16283935

(Scroll down for McCann report)

21 December 2011 Last updated at 15:52

Phone hacking 'bog-standard tool' says former Mirror journalist

James Hipwell: "Very unlikely Piers Morgan did not know hacking was going on".

Phone hacking appeared to be a "bog-standard journalistic tool" for gathering information, a former Daily Mirror financial reporter has said.

James Hipwell, who was jailed in 2006 for writing about firms whose shares he owned, said he witnessed repeated privacy infringements at the paper.

He told the Leveson Inquiry into media ethics that he overheard showbiz journalists openly talking about it.

Publisher Trinity Mirror has insisted its journalists work within the law.

It has also said they work within the Press Complaints Commission's (PCC) code of conduct.

But Mr Hipwell told the inquiry he had never been given a copy of the code during his time at the paper, under the editorship of Piers Morgan.

He said he never heard reference to the code, and said there were no visible signs of ethical leadership.
'Beating heart'

"Flanagan at #leveson: would take a brave reporter to say he wasn't sure about this, not filing a story today”
Ross Hawkins BBC correspondent

In a statement read to the inquiry, he stated: "I witnessed journalists carrying out repeated privacy infringements using what has now become a well-known technique - to hack into the voicemail systems of celebrities, their friends, publicists and public relations executives.

"The openness and frequency of their hacking activities gave me the impression that hacking was considered a bog-standard journalistic tool for gathering information."

Mr Hipwell said he sat next to the showbiz team, where hacking took place daily.

"Showbiz hacks discussed techniques and products of hacking openly," his statement said.

"I would go as far as to say it happened every day. It became apparent that a great number of stories... would come from that source."

He described Mr Morgan as "very hands-on" and the "beating heart" of the newspaper, and said the editor spent half an hour every day discussing the showbiz reporters' stories.

"Showbusiness is very close to his heart... and a lot of people who had worked on the showbusiness desk had come from the Sun and they were old friends," he said.

Image
David Pilditch Mr Pilditch said reporting on the disappearance of Madeleine McCann was "unsatisfactory"

"Nothing really happened on that desk without Piers knowing about it."

On one occasion in 2000, Mr Hipwell said he saw a journalist openly hack into Mr Morgan's phone.

"I don't think it elicited a great deal of information, but he certainly tried," he said.

Mr Hipwell said he did not report that he had witnessed hacking because senior editors accepted it.

He added that it was "very unlikely" Mr Morgan did not know that Mirror journalists were hacking.

But in evidence to the inquiry on Tuesday, Mr Morgan had firmly denied any knowledge of hacking under his editorship.

He said he had no reason to believe it was going on.

Mr Hipwell was jailed for purchasing low-priced stocks and then recommending them to readers in the paper's City Slickers column, selling them as their values soared.
'Formal suspects'

He received a six-month prison sentence in February 2006 for pocketing nearly £41,000.

Later, the inquiry heard from journalists covering the disappearance of Madeleine McCann from Portugal at the time her parents Kate and Gerry became "arguidos" - or formal suspects.

Daily Express journalist David Pilditch said it had been difficult to cover the story because it was illegal for Portuguese police to talk about the case, and he had to rely on sources.

Two of these were Portuguese journalists in contact with the police, while a third was a translator who worked for police, he said.

Image
Padraic Flanagan Considerations of the law were left to his superiors, Express reporter Padraic Flanagan said

He said it had been a "ludicrous state of affairs" and although he was "confident of the veracity of the reports" he wrote, it made him feel "uncomfortable".

"I knew... there were going to be difficulties if any complaints were made because they weren't publicly declared statements," he said.

The Express newsdesk was well aware of the "fragility" of the situation, he added.

Some of the articles that appeared in the paper falsely alleged the McCanns were responsible for their daughter's death.

In March 2008, it led to Express Newspapers paying the couple £550,000 in libel damages and printing front-page apologies to the McCanns.

The McCanns told the inquiry last month that newspaper suggestions they were responsible had left them distraught.

Later, another Express journalist, Padraic Flanagan, told the inquiry: "Working in Portugal, the first question you asked yourself wasn't 'Can I stand this up?'; it was 'What can I find today?'"

He said "considerations of the law" were left to his superiors.

And former Express reporter Nick Fagge said the story had become an "obsession" of the editor.

"The editor of the time decided it was the only story he was interested in and put it on the front page regardless of how strong the story was," he said.

The inquiry was later adjourned until 9 January.

Panda wrote:At the risk of repeating myself, why are the McCanns brought into this enquiry again? Everyone knows The Express forked out £925,000 + legal fees to the
McCanns and the Tapas 7. this was for libel, not phone hacking........I think Leveson is out of order.

I think Leveson showed himself to be unnaturally biased by this statement:


"Leveson explains he is conducting an investigation into press ethics but is happy to put it on record that this is indeed the case.

Everybody is agreed that there is absolutely no foundation at all for the allegation that emerged throughout the press at this time that Dr and Dr McCann were involved in any way, in any inappropriate conduct in relation to the disappearance of their daughter."

I presume he said all of the above. I think this Inquiry was instigated for the sole purpose of supporting the Mccanns. It seems that way to me.

The Leveson Enquiry is deeply flawed and it is hard to believe that this is a senior member of the Judiciary.

He seems to be persuaded more by lobbying and spin than by evidence and fact.

Yet another otherwise intelligent person taken in by the McCampaign and in dire need of training in the art of hat-eating.

Leveson: afternoon ( from guardian):


....The former Daily Mirror and News of the World editor was asked about a trip to Australia for a News Corp summit at which Tony Blair spoke.

2.49pm: Fagge agrees that the coverage of the McCann story was regrettable.


It is tragic.

Leveson thanks him for his evidence.
Peter Hill who has retired as the editor of the Daily Express newspaper Photograph: Frantzesco Kangaris for the Guardian
2.46pm: Leveson is now expected to call in Peter Hill, the editor of the Daily Express in 2008, to give evidence after Flanagan's assertion that the McCann story was an "obsession" of his.

Leveson: It can't just be a question of sales can it?

Fagge: I think you will have to ask the editor that.

Leveson: I might do.

2.45pm: Fagge is asked if he was surprised when the libel action was launched by the McCanns in 2008.


No, because the editor of the time decided it was the only story he was interested in and put it on the front page regardless of how strong the story was.

Jay asks does he mean the story might appear if it wasn't true?


Not, at its truth. the Madeleine story was on the front page of the Daily Express more than any other newspaper, because he decided it would sell newspapers, it became an obsession of his.

2.43pm: Fagge says as a reporter in Portugal he would not be thinking of a potential libel action back in London.


I wouldn't be thinking if the story came to the high court, I'd be thinking of verifying the story as best I good, I wouldn't be thinking of a potential libel case.

2.41pm: The final witness of the day, Nick Fagge, is now giving evidence.

Fagge confirms he worked at the Daily Express between 2001 and 2010 and is now a staff reporter at the Daily Mail.

He says he went to Morocco in 2007 to chase a story about Madeleine McCann.

2.39pm: Leveson says he is a supporter of freedom of express but he is keen to find balance.

He asks Flanagan to look at the case of Christopher Jefferies, the Bristol landlord linked to the murder of Joanna Yeates.


Everyone just went like a train on the story and it's destructive.

Leveson says the answer may be "the story is not [written] in such bright colours".

2.37pm: Flanagan apologises to the McCanns.


I would like to take an opportunity to apologise to the McCanns for adding to their distress and hurt for what I wrote.

2.34pm:When Flanagan explains he can't write a story that there is no story, Leveson says "complete piffle" is not the alternative.

Leveson says:


The one thing that you don't want to fill the paper story surely is stuff that is terribly damaging to people and maybe complete piffle.

2.30pm: Flanagan says there was "a very large vacuum" to fill in Portugal.


A lot of theorising. I think everybody was aware of the strength of these stories, how fragile they were. I think it's sometimes the case on crime stories that this kind of thing process takes place; supposition and theorising ... with the Portuguese's stance on talking to the press there was a very large vacuum there.

He adds:


I do have some responsibility – for instance I can't write a story that is a lie and claim to the newsdesk that it is true.

2.27pm: Flanagan is asked why Northern & Shell didn't defend the libel action by the McCanns. Was he surprised?

He replies:


No, I think at the Express they're more likely to want to avoid massive legal bills. I get the impression they're more likely to want to settle out of court rather than fight cases

2.23pm: Flanagan says it would be a "brave" reporter who called their newsdesk to say they didn't have any updates on the McCann story.


It would be quite a brave reporter to call the desk and say 'I'm not really sure about this, I'm not going to send anything back today'.

If they had the copy they could see the strength of the material and they could take a view on it ... the story was extraordinary, this snowball going down the incline as you said. Bearing in mind every newspaper and TV and radio reporters were there
Andy Coulson Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA
2.22pm: This report has just come in from the Press Association on Andy Coulson's court case.


Former News of the World editor Andy Coulson has lost a high court action against his ex-employer over its refusal to pay legal fees arising from the phone-hacking affair.

Coulson, 43, who was not in court today, sued News International subsidiary News Group Newspapers (NGN) over the construction of a clause within a severance agreement from his resignation in February 2007.

He asked Mr Justice Supperstone for a declaration that NGN, which stopped reimbursement in August, "must pay the professional costs and expenses properly incurred" by him "in defending allegations of criminal conduct" during his tenure.

Coulson, who was arrested in July over the allegations and released on bail, has always denied any wrongdoing.

He resigned from his position as David Cameron's director of communications in January, saying that coverage of the scandal was making it too difficult for him to do his job.

Christopher Jeans QC, for NGN, said the clause covered the "occupational hazards of being an editor" and not alleged criminal activity.
Leveson inquiry: Padraic Flanagan
2.18pm: He says he would discuss what the best "lines of the day" were with the newdesk through the day, but that "considerations of the law" were left to his superiors.


Working in Portugal the first question you asked yourself wasn't 'Can I stand this up?'; it was 'What can I find today?'

2.13pm: He says he had no sources in the police itself as they could not brief officially.

He is being asked about a story from 2007 which referred to questions British police were being asked by their Portuguese police.

He says it originated from a Portuguese journalist.

This journalist was shown "these 14 questions in a document that was being sent over to British detectives".

The story also reports that investigators believe the "Tapas 9" may have been involved in the crime.

He says he got that story from the same source.

2.12pm: He says he had between 50 and 60 names and numbers he would call regularly on this story.



There was a wide variety of sources that I used in Portugal

2.10pm: David Express journalist Padraic Flanagan is now being sworn in.

He has been a journalist for 21 years and covered the McCann story along with Pilditch back in 2007.

2.08pm: The Leveson inquiry has resumed and Northern & Shell barrister James Dingemans is questioning Express journalist David Pilditch.

2.07pm: David Pilditch's witness statements have now been published.

witness statement of David Pilditch

Witness statement of James Hipwell

2.02pm: My colleague Josh Halliday has just tweeted that Andy Coulson, the former editor of the News of the World has lost his bid to force his former employer to pay his legal fees.


Andy Coulson loses bid to force NGN to pay legal costs.

1.06pm: The Leveson inquiry has now broken for lunch and will resume at 2.05pm.

Oh my god how many red faces are they going to be when the McCanns are held to account, all this groveling by Leveson & co is pathetic and totaly embarrassing and proves how the Government just pick any OLD fool and puts them in FULL CONTROL of something so seriously important, and it doesn't matter that they no absolutely zilch about what they are talking about.....

As Kate McCann would say F*****g T*****s

http://www.levesoninquiry.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Witness-Statement-of-David-Pilditch.pdf477

For Distribution To CP’s
D H P~iditch
[ ] Decernber2011
1 st
IN THE MATTER OF THE LEVESON INQUIRY
WITNESS STATEMENT OF DAVID HAMILTON PILDITCH
I, DAVID HAMILTON PILDITCH, Journalist, of The Northern & Shell Building, 10 Lower
Thames Street, London, EC3R 6EN, WILL SAY AS FOLLOWS:
A, I am a General News Reporter at The Daily Express. make this statement in response to a
request of the Leveson Inquiry (the "Inquiry") to the solicitors for Express Newspapers dated
25 November 2011 with regard to the circumstances surrounding the publication of articles
in The Daily Express between September 2007 and January 2008 about Drs McCann.
B, I confirm that alt matters in this statement are true and, unless I specify to the contrary are
based upon my own knowledge and a review of the relevant documents Where matters are
not within my own knowledge, I state the source and believe the same to be true.
C. For convenience, I have reproduced as subheadings the questions asked of me in the 25
November 201 1 letter.
Introduction
1, By way of introduction, I have been a journalist for 26 years, I started at a local newspaper,
the Esher News and Maili where I spent three years and was formally trained by the
National Council for the Training of Journalists.
2. I worked for several years at Cassidy and Leigh, a national news agency. In 1995 I joined
The Daily Mirror as a news reporter, before moving in 2003 to The Daily Express,
MOD100053118
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3. I was the first Daily Express reporter to arrive in Portugal following the disappearance of
Madeleine McOann in May 2007, I spent six weeks in the country on my first visit, and over
the course of the next nine months until February 2008, 1 was there a total of six times.
Question 1: What was the evidential basis for each of the stories you wrote in relation to
the McCanns, identifying (in each case) precisely the information on which you based
each of them?
,
tt became apparent in the days after arriving in Praia da Luz that covering the,
disappearance of Madeleine McCann was going to be uniquely challenging, Under
Portugal’s secrecy of justice laws it is illegal for anyone to publicly discuss the details of an
on-going police investigation. This means even the most senior detectives in charge of an
inquiry are not allowed: to speak to the press and the media. Quite frankly this was a
ludicrous state of affairs which made covering the story near impossible.
Even Kate and Gerry McCann, who were anxious to put out appeals for information, were
made aware that speaking: about the case could lead to a term of imprisonment of up to two
years:
6. This lack of official co-operation between the police and the media, in my view, fatally flawed
the investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance from day one.
.
In this country the relationship between the police and the media is probably at its closest
during a missing person inquiry. In the absence of any substantial leads the police rely on
the public to provide information of possible sightings or people acting suspiciously, This
helps ensure the police have as much information as possible available to them.
8. In Portugal, there were none of the basic strategies or systems that we would expect to be
put into place in an investigation of this kind.
9. As Gerry McCann pointed out in his statement the lack of formal dialogue between the
Policia Judiciaria (P J) and the public was incredibly frustrating for everybody involved.
10. In the critical early hours and days after Madeleine McCann disappeared there were no
public appeals. It took a number of days before police released details of the clothes
Madefeine was wearing when she disappeared - and that was only done under enormous
pressure from the international media.
11. Again under pressure from the media, the police held a series of press conferences in the
early days after Madeleine’s disappearance which turned out to be farcical because no
useful information was forthcoming.
12. A detective from Lisbon who specialized in investigating art thefts was brought in as a media
liaison officer. Unfortunately he refused to confirm or deny any information that was put to
him and was unable to give any guidance either on or off the record. In short, his
appointment was a complete waste of time
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13. As in every case, my stories were compiled using numerous sources of information. In my
time in Portugal I interviewed witnesses, many locals connected with businesses, resort
workers, holidaymakers and ex-pats - a number of whom became contacts and regular
sources of information,
14. 1 incorporated copy filed by the Press Association and independent news agencies based in
Britain and abroad, along with copy filed by colleagues back home - members of the
McCanns’ families were releasing information and photographs to help the search.
15. The McCanns themselves I~ad various people representing them, In the early stages a
spokesman was appointed by the holiday company the family had travelled with.
Subsequently there were two Foreign Office officials who helped them one of whom was
Clarence Mitchell.
16, In September 2007, after the McCanns returned to Britain, Mr Mitchell was taken on by the
couple as their official spokesman.
17. I have written a great many stories about the disappearance of Madeleine McCann since
May 4 2007, I have also written hundreds of other stories relating to a huge range of
subjects and issues, It would be impossible to forensically examine a series of stories
written four years ago and explain precisely where each fact was sourced from. However,
when reports were followed up from Portuguese newspapers and TV networks that is clearly
spelled out in my stories.
18. The McCanns were always approached to comment on stories through their spokesman and
those comments were clearly attributed. An addition to quoting from Portuguese newspapers
and the Drs McCanns’ official spokesman I approached my own sources.
19. In their evidence the McCanns. referring to the press in general terms, said that many
stories had been "made up" and that they did not believe "police sources" were genuine. In
the case of every story I wrote, the police sources I quoted were genuine. I had three
sources in Portugal who provided me with information. Two were Portuguese journalists who
were in daily contact with the most senior officers investigating Madeieine McCann’s
disappearance. The third was a translator who worked for the Portuguese Police and
translating and interpreting in the Portuguese legal system.
20, The stories that have been selected in this file must be looked at in the context of how
events were unfolding on the ground during this time whe~7 the Portuguese police
investigation had reached a particular stage.
21. Despite the barriers thrown up by the Portuguese criminal justice system, I was able to
obtain an accurate and truthful insight into on-going developments within the police
investigation at that time. Indeed, by this point fn time, one of my contacts was informing me
of day-to-day developments as they were taking place and before they were being written
about in Portuguese newspapers. This enabled me to verify the accuracy of the information
I was being gwen. For example, I was told of a series of operations and searches that would
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be taking place at particular times and on particular days- and was able to personally
wkness these events taking place,
22. Although I was confident of the veracity of: the reports I was writing, due to the secrecy of
justice laws they were impossible to prove, to any satisfactory legal standard, at that time.
The fact is that every newspaper, TV network or media organisation that reported on: details
of the investigation into Madeieine McCann,s disappearance were in the same boat.
23. Due to the restrictions of the Portuguese law; anyone who was unhappy about something
that had been written or said about them and wished to take legal action would almost
certainly have been successful. As a journalist this is a wholly unsatisfactory position which,
in my view, leaves news organisations at the mercy of potential litigants, They simply are
unable to defend themselves.
24. It was only months later, in July 2008 that Portugal’s Attorney General formally closed the
investigation into Madeleine McCann’s disappearance. Under the Portuguese system, the
authorities released the official police file - more than 10,000 documents including
photographs, official reports and witness statements including those of the McCanns.
Through the release of those documents and subsequent Jegal actions in Portuga! it is now a
matter of public record that the reports I was writing between September 2007 and January
2008 were truthful and accurate,
Question 2; what checks if any did you undertake or cause to undertake to verify the
accuracy of each of these stories?
25. All my stories were checked wi[h more than one source prior to publication, Once Clarence
Mitchell was appointed as Drs McCanns’ spokesman, it was agreed that all stories would be
bounced off him rather than the Drs McCann directly; This was strictly adhered to. On every
occasion, Portuguese :)olice refused to comment on grounds that the inquiry was subject to
judicial secrecy.
26. Leicestershire Police, the UK force handling the investigation, took the decision neither to
comment nor -unusually for a force involved in a high profile on-going inquiry - give off the
record guidance to journalists with story queries. Instead they referred all journalists to their
Portuguese counterparts - who refused to comment,
Question 3: Why did you not seek comment from the McCanns before these stories were
published?
27. On each occasion, I sought comment from Drs McCanns’ representatives,
Question 4: What legal advice, if any was taken in relation to these issues?
28. Upon filing each story it would have been viewed by the News Editor of the day and a
lawyer: it would then have been passed to a sub editor who would cut it to fit the required
space on the page and add a headline. As a news reporter I have no involvement in the
wording of headlines that accompany my stories, Though my involvement usualfy ends with
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the filing of my story the news desk, lawyer and sub editor are obviously free to contact me if
they have any additional queries or require me to make further checks.
Question 5: Please explain the nature of sub-editorial and editorial involvement in each
of the stories you wrote explaining in particular the steps they took to satisfy themselves
that the said stories were accurate and that there was a public interest in their
publication. In each case, you are required to name the sub,editors and editors involved.
29. When I file a story f have no say over where it will appear in the paper, what prominence it
will be given or even if it will appear in the paper at all. I play no part in that decision.making
process. However, there is always frequent dialogue throughout the day between the
reporters on the ground, and the editors in the newsroom, particularly with regard to the
checking of stories and sources,
Conclusion
30. The disappearance of Madeleine McCann was an extraordinary and unique event. As a
news reporter with 26 years, experience I approached my coverage of Madeleine’s
disappearance exactly the same way as I did all the other major running news stories I have
covered during that time. My aim was - and always is - to interview witnesses, check out
information from sources, and speak to individuals, investigators and officials involved in an
attempt to discover the truth. The aspect that made the case truly unusual was the wall of
silence and lack of guidance to journalists from police both in Portugal and the UK,
31, In the absence of these critical sources or official comment that could be attributed to a
named police source or authority, I took steps to obtain the relevant information by the best
available route. ~ approached news/TV reporters who had solid contacts within the
Portuguese police for information on the investigation and relied on the services of Mr
Mitchell as a third party spokesman for Drs McCann.
STATEMENT OF TRUTH
I believe that th:~ facts stated in this Witness Statement are true.
DAVID Hh, MILTON PILDITCH
Dated: [ ] December 2011
i082948v6A 5

Due to the restrictions of the Portuguese law; anyone who was unhappy about something
that had been written or said about them and wished to take legal action would almost
certainly have been successful. As a journalist this is a wholly unsatisfactory position which,
in my view, leaves news organisations at the mercy of potential litigants, They simply are
unable to defend themselves

Hmm, very interesting. Portugal may indeed have been the ideal place for this 'abduction'.

I thought the mccanns said their was DNA off madeleines in the hire car that came from her shoes etc.


Yet the mccanns said at the enquiry that their was NO DNA from Madeleine In The hire car.