Tom Watson MP said this in the Parliamentary debate (where you cannot be sued for libel), on Wednesday, the day before the NotW was shut down:
I want to inform the House of further evidence that suggests Rebekah Brooks knew about the unlawful tactics of News of the World as early as 2002, despite all her denials yesterday. Rebekah Brooks was present at a meeting with Scotland Yard when police officers pursing a murder investigation provided her with evidence that her newspaper was interfering with the pursuit of justice. They gave her the name of another executive at News International, Alex Marunchak. The meeting, which included Dick Fedorcio of the Metropolitan police, told her that News of the World staff were guilty of interference and party to using unlawful means to attempt to discredit a police officer and his wife. She was told of actions by people she paid to expose and discredit David Cook and his wife Jackie Haines so that Mr Cook would be prevented from completing an investigation into a murder. News International were paying people to interfer with police officers and were doing so on behalf of known criminals. We know now that News International had entered the criminal underworld.
She cannot deny being present at this meeting when the actions of people she was paying were exposed. She cannot deny now being warned that under her auspices unlawful tactics were being used with the purpose of interfering with the pursuit of justice. She cannot deny that one of her staff, Alex Marunchak, was named and involved. She cannot deny either that she was told by the police that her own paper was using unlawful tactics, in this case to help one of her law-breaking investigators. This in my views shows her culpability goes beyond taking the blame as head of the organisation. It is about direct knowledge of unlawful behaviour.
And was Mr Marunchak dismissed. No. He was promoted.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2011/jul/06/news-of-the-world-phone-hacking-live#block-57NI replied:
"It is well documented that Jonathan Rees and Southern Investigations worked for a whole variety of newspaper groups. With regards to Tom Watson's specific allegations, we believe these are wholly inaccurate. The Met police, with whom we are co-operating fully in Operation Weeting, have not asked us for any information regarding Jonathan Rees. We note again that Tom Watson MP made these allegations under parliamentary privilege."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jun/08/phone-hacking-kate-middleton-tony-blairI'd like to know if Rees was the 63 year old arrested and released on police bail last night (though I doubt it, since I think journalists would have been able to work out if he was, and would probably have published it).
(On edit: no, it appears Rees is 56. More detail on him here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/mar/11/news-of-the-world-police-corruption - found via a
thread on DU from March this year. Thanks, CHIMO!)
More on Rees:
The agency's two principals, Jonathan Rees and ex-detective sergeant Sid Fillery, had both been arrested in connection with the 1987 murder of Rees's former partner, Daniel Morgan, found in a pub car park with an axe embedded in his head. For some years, the agency and its associates had played a part in setting up newspaper stings, providing information and bodyguards to the likes of the News of the World's "fake sheikh", Maz Mahmood.
...
But it was not to be. Instead, in 2002, Rees, another man and a detective were all jailed after being found guilty of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice which involved the planting of drugs on an innocent woman. Fillery received a community rehabilitation order after admitting 15 counts of making indecent images of children.
...
After Rees came out of prison, he resumed working with the media, particularly with Marunchak of the News of the World. But in early 2008, Rees and three other men were charged with the axe murder of Daniel Morgan, and Fillery was charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
Their Old Bailey trial was expected to hear details of the agency's dealings with the media, and the allegation that Morgan was murdered because he was about to expose police corruption. But after long legal argument the trial collapsed earlier this year without it even getting in front of a jury.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jul/08/news-of-the-world-payments-to-policeIf the News of the World was helping out a criminal with whom they had a business relationship, by tailing police officers, it's very bad. If there's anything about why the trail collapsed (disappearance of evidence? Blackmailing of witnesses?) it could be a lot worse.
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