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Tabloids on trial: the ITV Documentary laying bare the true extent of brutal tabloid criminality

25/07/2024

An ITV documentary is set to air tonight, which will lay bare the true extent of brutal tabloid criminality that has polluted British politics and destroyed lives and families. New explosive claims include testimonies from high profile victims Hugh Grant, Prince Harry, Gordon Brown, Charlotte Church, and former England footballer Paul Gascoigne. But also, victims caught-up in atrocities who have never sought to be in the public eye, such as 7/7 firefighter Paul Dadge, who found their phones had been hacked and they had become a target. The only comfort for the victims of phone hacking - who have been frequently let down by promises of press reform and watched government collusion and betrayal on this issue - is that this is a scandal that refuses to go away.

'Tabloids on Trial' which will air on ITV1 at 21:00, shows no matter what your position, whether a victim of a catastrophe or a member of the royal family, you can be a powerless target of unlawful press intrusion. But unlike the many public interest scandals, such as the Post Office Scandal and the Contaminated Blood Scandal, tabloid criminality is not a story you will see covered in the mainstream newspapers willingly. The claims shed new light on the extent of unprosecuted criminality in the tabloid British press industry, the cover-ups and the devastating personal consequences for victims and their families. Revelations that go to the heart of British government including allegations that put national security at risk. Gordon Brown says he believes his phone, bank accounts and personal data were illegally accessed by News Group Newspapers while he was Prime Minister.

In the documentary he told reporter Rebecca Barry.

“There seems to be no limits to what this group would do” “My bank account was broken into, my building society account was broken into, my gas bill, my electricity bill, my telecommunications bill. I know that they tried to get information from the police computer about me. All these things happened to me during the period I was Chancellor and Prime Minister.”

These allegations, first made under oath at the Leveson inquiry, are still denied. However, millions of pounds of settlements have been made to victims in civil courts by the Sun newspaper, and the senior executives in charge of NGN are yet to face justice. Former footballer, Paul Gascoigne, who received £188,250 damages in compensation from MGN for phone hacking, told how the intrusion destroyed his trust in his own family.

“I bought 6 phones kept on changing numbers and thought god when is it going to stop” “I became a recluse didn't want to speak to nobody” "I was just speaking to my mum and dad, just them - and the next day it came out in the papers. So I went mad. I said, what the f*** are you speaking to the papers for?" They said I haven't spoken to them. I said, you have. You're the only two I've spoken to. I love my mum and dad, so the thought they were hacking us wasn't good."

Actor and Hacked Off Director Hugh Grant told Rebecca Barry he believed the criminality went much deeper.

“This isn't something that is only about phone hacking, there were microphones in window boxes outside the house, there were trackers, microphones dropped into my car, there were medical records of me and mothers of my children for instance, all blagged and stolen out of the NHS” “Perhaps most spectacularly the burglary of my flat and my office” "In the case of my flat burglary, it was quite spectacular," "the whole door had been taken off its hinges, they'd been through the flat and nothing was stolen." “A lot of information about the interior of my flat appeared in the newspapers a few days later.” “I don't hold massive grievances against the foot soldiers or these guys that did this stuff, not against them but I remain bitter and determined to exact justice on the executives who commissioned this stuff.

Singer Charlotte Church says she believes her mother was irrecoverably damaged because of press abuse.

“From the ages of 15 to 21, I had an inescapable abuser: the press” "My mother was already an incredibly vulnerable woman. Her mental health was really bad. And I'd found her after taking an overdose, and so she was in a really bad way and that was straight in the press.” “No idea where that came from” "It was horrific. She's never been able to fully come back from the abuse that she suffered." “My parents they weren't public people they had never courted it they got absolutely mullered”

If there is one thing that the testimonies of Church and others, make clear it this. Sir Keir Starmer must now act to make a pivotal choice. Will he act to protect the interests of the public or those of Rupert Murdoch? The Prime Minister has said this will be a government of integrity, which will put the public first. As the documentary shows, phone hacking and press criminality scandals have had devastating, lifelong consequences for their victims.  They have destroyed peoples' relationships, caused intense paranoia, and irreparably damaged peoples' lives. The people responsible - not the junior journalists but the senior executives, who ordered criminal acts - have never been brought to justice. The victims received unambiguous promises from the Labour Party that Leveson Part Two would go ahead, to deliver justice and make recommendations to ensure press abuse ends and is never repeated. We urge the Prime Minister to make the right choice.

To stand by its promises to those victims - ordinary people, many of them survivors of other traumatic, newsworthy events – and not cast them aside, in the hope of retaining the support of the handful of individuals who own national newspapers, and their executives who have so much to fear from an inquiry into their wrongdoing. His government must back the rule of law, and the principle of justice for all.The press should not receive special treatment.The Labour Party made promises, alongside dozens of other victims of press intrusion and criminality, that they will stand on the side of integrity.We urge the Prime Minister to proceed with Leveson Part Two now.

Download the full report:

Download report

Queries: campaign@hackinginquiry.org

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