James Murdoch knew of wider hacking, 2 say

Media executive James Murdoch knew of a damaging piece of evidence three years ago that phone hacking was practiced by more than one reporter at the News of the World, despite his statements to the contrary, two of his former colleagues said yesterday.

The assertion by Colin Myler, the paper's last editor, and Tom Crone, an in-house lawyer, boosted the likelihood that Murdoch will be called to appear again before Parliament to explain the discrepancy. Both he and his father, media magnate Rupert Murdoch, gave evidence to lawmakers in July after the phone-hacking scandal broke wide open and threw their massive News Corp. empire into turmoil.

Myler and Crone, who were summoned to reappear before Parliament yesterday, said they talked to James Murdoch briefly in 2008 about an email that seemed to implicate the News of the World's chief reporter in the tapping of cellphones, an illegal tactic for which a colleague, Clive Goodman, had already been convicted and jailed.

The email surfaced in a lawsuit brought by former U.K. soccer star Gordon Taylor against the News of the World, which he accused of intercepting his voice mail messages. Crone told lawmakers the email persuaded him it would be better to settle the case rather than fight it.

"It was evidence clearly . . . that it went beyond Clive Goodman," Crone said of the phone hacking, which had been characterized as the work of a lone "rogue reporter."

Crone said he sought permission to settle from Murdoch, who was in charge of News International, the News of the World's parent company. The meeting lasted "about 15 minutes," during which "I am certain that I explained to him . . . this document meant it was clear that News of the World had a wider involvement" in hacking than was previously revealed.

Added Myler: "I think everybody perfectly understood the significance and the seriousness of what we were discussing."