24 March 2011 Last updated at 15:13Phone hacking: Met chief denies phone-hacking cover-up
Police chief John Yates offered to appear before parliamentary committees to respond to allegations
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A senior Met Police officer has denied conspiring with the News of the World newspaper to protect journalists from phone-hacking allegations.
Claims by Labour MP Chris Bryant had been "materially wrong", Acting Deputy Commissioner John Yates told MPs.
He also said prosecutors' advice had been that interception of a voicemail message was only an offence if the true recipient had not yet listened to it.
The Crown Prosecution Service has denied this was the guidance given.
A spokeswoman said it would not be responding to Mr Yates's claim, but added it was standing by a letter written by the director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer, QC to the Guardian newspaper last week.
In it he criticises John Yates, saying this was not the advice that had been given.
Mr Yates told the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee that, on the basis of the CPS advice, only "a very small number of cases" could be proven.
He also denied that he misled Parliament by claiming there were only eight to 12 victims of News of the World hacking.
He told the committee: "I do not want to get into a fight with the DPP. It's unedifying and unnecessary."
But he was adamant that the legal advice the Met received in 2009 was unequivocal.
Asked by Labour committee member Tom Watson whether he had suppressed wrongdoing by News of the World journalists, Mr Yates said: "Absolutely not."
'Join the dots'His appearance before MPs came after he requested an opportunity to rebut allegations made by Mr Bryant.
Mr Bryant, who claims he was a victim of hacking, has said the Met failed to "join up the dots" of their original inquiry.
Scotland Yard launched a "robust" new investigation in January following new information.
The first investigation led in 2007 to the convictions and imprisonment of then News of the World journalist Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire.
"Whatever the outcome of the future investigations the fact remains that throughout the Mulcaire and Goodman case and throughout the ensuing period until October 2010 the legal advice was unequivocal and, as I said, very proscriptive," Mr Yates told the committee.
"I have always cautioned on behalf of the original investigation that while suspects may have targeted many people as private investigators we could only actually prove the offence of voicemail interception in a very small number of cases."
Four alleged phone-hacking victims have reached out-of-court settlements with the newspaper, including celebrity publicist Max Clifford, who received a reported £1m.
Fourteen people, including football agent Sky Andrew, comedian Steve Coogan and sports commentator Andy Gray, are now suing News International.
Thursday 24 March 2011
BBC News - Phone hacking: Met chief denies phone-hacking cover-up
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