Brown’s calls have come as new data has emerged concerning the 2011 episode by way of litigation filed by Prince Harry, King Charles III’s youthful son, in opposition to Murdoch’s Information Group Newspapers (NGN), the writer of the Solar and Information of the World, which was shuttered in 2011.
In a letter dated June 19, 2024, that was first reported by the Guardian newspaper and seen by The Submit on Wednesday, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley wrote that a “particular enquiry group” is analyzing Brown’s allegations that the corporate was concerned in a coverup by deleting thousands and thousands of emails throughout a police investigation.
“The problems you increase are advanced and can take time to think about in opposition to investigations which have already taken place,” Rowley wrote.
Lewis has denied wrongdoing. On Wednesday, he declined to remark by way of a Submit spokeswoman.
Victims of the cellphone hacking declare the e-mail deletions have been a part of an effort to cowl up executives’ consciousness that Murdoch journalists had illegally obtained voicemails of hundreds of individuals, together with politicians, royals and even a murdered teenager. The corporate has spent a reported $1.5 billion to settle greater than a thousand phone-hacking claims, with settlements persevering with into this 12 months.
Murdoch’s firm has stated in courtroom filings that the corporate’s emails conformed with a data-retention coverage and have been deleted for “business, IT and sensible causes” and never as a part of a plan to hide proof. An organization spokeswoman has additionally famous that British prosecutors beforehand examined the e-mail deletion challenge and declined to pursue legal prices.
“It’s strongly denied that Information Worldwide [NI] sought to impede or worse conceal proof from the MPS investigation,” stated a spokeswoman for Murdoch’s U.Okay. publishing firm, now referred to as Information UK, on Wednesday. “These issues have already been the topic of appreciable scrutiny within the legal circumstances.”
Brown, who has stated he believes his cellphone might have been hacked, has stated new data has been revealed by Prince Harry’s lawsuit, together with that Lewis instructed police in 2011 that there was a risk from an inner mole that impacted how the corporate dealt with emails on the time, in response to paperwork submitted to courtroom this week and beforehand reported by The Submit. Lewis stated the corporate feared the alleged leaker was relaying data from the e-mail account of Brooks to Brown and Tom Watson, the previous deputy chief of the Labour Occasion.
The Information UK spokeswoman stated Brown’s allegations have been “not new and have shaped a part of the civil litigation for a few years.”
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police instructed The Submit on Wednesday that Brown’s allegations proceed “to be assessed and we might be writing once more to replace him on the doubtless timescales concerned in that work.”
The Guardian on Wednesday printed an opinion piece from Brown through which he accused Lewis of being engaged in a “full fabrication.”
“I’ve solely just lately found how Lewis tried to accuse me of a criminal offense I didn’t commit,” he wrote.
“Blazoned throughout the highest of each version of The Washington Submit is the assertion ‘Democracy dies in darkness,’” Brown stated. “However what if the writer himself is a grasp of the darkish arts?”
A spokeswoman for Information UK stated Brown had seen “partial data” and was making an attempt to influence the police to take sides in an ongoing civil case through which he isn’t a celebration.
Lewis, who took over on the Murdoch firm because it was reeling from the phone-hacking scandal and helped handle its response, will not be a defendant within the ongoing civil case introduced by Prince Harry and different alleged phone-hacking victims. However a decide dominated in Might that plaintiffs can air allegations that Lewis and others aided within the concealment and destruction of proof associated to the scandal.
Questions on how Lewis dealt with the episode deepened after studies in June that he sought to discourage The Submit from masking developments within the civil case, an allegation he has denied.
The civil case is schedule to go to trial in London in January. At a pre-trial listening to on the London Excessive Courtroom this week legal professionals for Harry and different plaintiffs claimed that Lewis and different executives concocted a “faux safety risk” involving Brown and Watson that plaintiffs allege was used to justify “the deletion of thousands and thousands of incriminating emails.”
Murdoch’s U.Okay. media firm agreed in courtroom to conduct a brand new seek for paperwork linked to Lewis and others that will relate to the safety risk, a reminder that Lewis will face continued scrutiny within the case in coming months.
Paperwork beforehand reported by The Submit present that in a July 8, 2011, assembly, Lewis instructed the London Metropolitan Police that the potential existence of a leaker “added to our anxieties” about deal with emails, however the firm ultimately didn’t discover proof that the plot existed.
Anthony Hudson, a lawyer for NGN, instructed the Excessive Courtroom that the safety risk was “believed to be real,” and the corporate has denied it was the explanation that some 30 million emails have been deleted. 9 million have been by no means recovered.
Greg Miller contributed to this report.
