Phone hacking: Lawyer Tom Crone disputes James Murdoch evidence

A former News International lawyer has accused company chairman James Murdoch of giving "disingenuous" evidence to the Commons media committee.

Mr Murdoch repeatedly told MPs he had not been made aware of details suggesting phone hacking at the News of the World went beyond a lone reporter.
But Tom Crone said Mr Murdoch was told in 2008 about a "damning email".
He was also made aware of what that meant in terms of the paper's wider involvement in hacking, Mr Crone added.
In the hearing, Mr Murdoch said he had not been shown a copy of the "For Neville" email - assumed to refer to former NoW chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck, which contained transcripts of voicemail messages revealing that Gordon Taylor's phone had been hacked - at a June 2008 meeting with legal manager Tom Crone.
At that meeting he agreed to authorise an increase in the out-of-court offer to Mr Taylor.
He said he was given "sufficient information to authorise the increase of the settlement offer" but added: "The nature of the so-called 'For Neville' email... any wider spread or evidence or suspicion of wider spread of wrongdoing - none of these things were mentioned to me."
However, in a statement released just hours after the hearing, Mr Crone said it was "regrettable", but he could "perfectly understand" why James Murdoch felt the need to discredit him and former editor Colin Myler.
"The simple truth is that he was told by us in 2008 about the damning email and what it meant in terms of wider News of the World involvement.
"It seems he now accepts he was told of the email, of the fact that it contained transcripts of voicemail interceptions and that those interceptions were authorised by the News of the World.
"Perhaps Mr Murdoch could explain who he thought was doing the authorising at the News of the World?
"At best, his evidence on this matter was disingenuous."
During the hearing, Mr Murdoch was pressed by Labour MP Tom Watson on the discrepancies between his account of events, and that of Mr Crone and Mr Myler earlier this year.
He said he disputed their version of events, and accused them of being "inconsistent" and "misleading" the committee.
In his statement, Mr Crone said: "For the record, I did not 'mislead the committee' about the evidence being confined to a 'single rogue reporter'."
Mr Myler has not commented.
@'BBC' 

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