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News Corp and its executives face many more weeks of uncertainty, writes Dan Sabbagh
Just a week ago, Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation finally looked as if it had worked out a way to reassert control of the News of the World phone-hacking scandal. However, the surprise arrest of Sunday tabloid veteran James Weatherup shows just how complex and unpredictable this saga is. An unexpectedly vigorous criminal inquiry – coupled with at least 24 civil suits from celebrities and politicians – shows there are too many loose ends to be swiftly tidied up by last Friday's admission of liability.
Weatherup may have been a key figure in the NoW newsroom since his return to the tabloid in 2003, but his name had not surfaced in any of the lawsuits brought against the newspaper. In the immediate aftermath of his early morning arrest, the company was struggling to establish what was happening. Even so, News Corp insiders were hinting they had factored in the possibility that more reporters might be arrested in addition to chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck, who was detained last week.
There were suggestions emanating from Wapping that Weatherup might have been involved in some of the reporting relating to the case of Gordon Taylor, the Professional Footballers' Association chief who settled a phone-hacking lawsuit in 2007, winning an estimated £800,000 payout. But Weatherup's name was not recognised by Mark Lewis, the lawyer who won the payout, suggesting that the police inquiry is going to be more thorough than anybody predicted.
That is hardly what the Murdoch-owned publisher will have wanted, on the eve of a critical high court case conference at which it is hoping to persuade Mr Justice Vos to move to a quick settlement of at least eight of the outstanding civil cases. Last week, News Corp was arguing that its concession of liability in actions brought by the likes of Sienna Miller and Andy Gray meant there was only a limited need to disclose more evidence and fight it out in public – but lawyers representing all 24 cases being brought will argue otherwise. "Because their admission of liability has been so limited," said Lewis, who represents Max Clifford's ex-assistant Nicola Phillips, "and because each and every case is sufficiently different, I don't think they will succeed in having all the cases grouped in a single short action."
The decision by News Corp to bag up and hand over the contents of Weatherup's desk to police, rather than allow detectives to seize its contents, may yet turn out to be significant. News Corp is confident its actions, which kept detectives away from the tabloid's newsroom, were entirely within the law. However, the police prefer to conduct searches themselves – and not being allowed to do so may contribute to friction between the investigators and the publisher.
There have been other complications in the past week, too: the admission that the NoW was involved in the hacking of Tessa Jowell's voicemails brings the uncomfortable realisation that an effort was made to target a serving cabinet minister. Even if the purpose of the investigation was to find out more about her relationship with her husband, David Mills, the lawyer who allegedly took a bribe from Silvio Berlusconi, Jowell was nevertheless also the minister responsible for media policy, and therefore responsible for scrutinising the conduct of those doing the hacking.
With deputy assistant commissioner Sue Akers saying privately that she will "follow the evidence" – code for saying the Met intends to be thorough – it is clear that News Corporation faces many more weeks of uncertainty before its executives know where this affair ends.