News of the World news editor tried to end Glenn Mulcaire payments, jury told
Phone-hacking trial told that news desk executive complained about paper's £2,000 weekly payments to private investigator
Caroline Davies and Lisa O'Carroll
The Guardian, Wednesday 20 November 2013 13.22 GMT
Phone-hacking trial: Ian Edmondson arrives at the Old Bailey. Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP
News of the World news editor Ian Edmondson made attempts to end payments to private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, the phone-hacking trial has been told.
In an email to managing editor Stuart Kuttner, Edmondson, then on the news desk of the Sunday tabloid, proposed stopping the £2,000 weekly payments made to Mulcaire as part of the paper's special investigations team.
"The £2,000-a-week payments to Greg's [Miskiw] investigations man has to stop," Edmondson wrote in an email to Kuttner, and copied to then editor Andy Coulson, on 19 February 2005. It continued: "I have spoken out about this a million times and don't think I need to say any more."
Six days later an assistant on the newsdesk, James Morgan, sent an email to Kuttner telling him that Edmondson had asked him to stop paying Mulcaire.
"Ian Edmondson has instructed me to stop paying Nine Consultancy's weekly payments of £2019," the email read.
The jury heard that Edmondson had joined the News of the World in November 2004 as associate news editor but that as James Weatherup was news editor at the time he requested payments to Mulcaire were stopped.
The jury was shown documents which showed that Mulcaire continued to be paid after Edmondson's arrival until August 2006.
In one email from March 2006 Mulcaire complained to Edmondson that the News of the World was behind on their payments to him.
"Good afternoon. Just for clarity reasons our no normal contract money of £2,019.00 has not gone in. I have spoken to Nick McCall [sic] and he said it was in the system but not released by the newsdesk pls could you sort this out as I am a week behind," he wrote.
Counsel for Edmondson, Sallie Bennett-Jenkins QC, put it to Morgan that very few payments were actually authorised by Edmondson and that the "vast majority" were sanctioned by Weatherup right up to August 2006.
The jury also heard that Morgan had told police in his witness statement Mulcaire was known as "Greg's man", a reference to Greg Miskiw, who preceded Weatherup as head of the newsdesk operation.
n his witness statement Morgan, who worked for the News of the World from 1995 to 2011, said he had been instructed by Miskiw to input weekly payments firstly for Euro Research and then Nine Consultancy.
"The conversation with Greg was literally straight to the point. He said something like 'we need to start paying this company an amount per week'. It was not my place to ask why we need paying anyone," said Morgan.
Bennett-Jenkins alleged that Edmondson had instructed some of the weekly £2,019 payments to be split into three following a conversation with Kuttner. The court has previously heard that the newdesk executives were authorised to make payments up to £2,000.
Edmondson, Bennett-Jenkins stated, authorised "very few" payments. He instructed Morgan to make up "topical" subjects for the payments when they were split in three in the contributions system. Topics Morgan assigned to the payments included "Prescott assistance" and "Nazi fan assistance", the jury saw.
Edmondson's original email calling for Mulcaire's payments to be stopped contained suggestions for cost-cutting proposed by Edmondson.
Edmondson and Kuttner both deny conspiracy to intercept voicemail messages. The jury has been told Mulcaire has pleaded guilty to charges related to phone hacking.
Giving evidence Frances Carman, former news desk secretary at the newspaper, said she had not seen that email.
She told the court she remembered a man called "Glenn" who used to call the news desk asking to speak to desk editors.
Bennett-Jenkins asked her if she recalled a joke about a man phoning the news desk calling himself "a Mr Lemon or a Mr Strawberry" and that the newsdesk used to joke abut Mulcaire being a "strange Walter Mitty" character.
Carman replied: "I know of calls from somebody called Glenn on occasion. I can't remember a lemon or strawberry bit, but it does ring a bell."
Nick McCaul, who processed contributors payments in the newspaper's finance department, said his only dealings with Mulcaire were when the investigator was chasing his weekly payments.
McCaul said he knew Mulcaire's name, but "seldom" had dealings with him. Mulcaire would telephone to find out where his money was "in the system", he said.
He was asked by Mark Bryant-Heron, for the prosecution, "Did you have any idea of what Mr Mulcaire did for that money?"
"I did not," he replied.
"Did you understand in general terms what his role was, or not?"
"No," he replied.
His recollection was that Mulcaire's payments did not differ each week, but were the same amount.
Questioned by Bennett-Jenkins, McCaul agreed he knew Mulcaire was "somebody keen to chase up his money". Did he know Edmondson had made a number of attempts to end payments to Mulcaire, she added. McCaul replied he did not know.
McCaul was also shown an email he was sent from the newspaper's then royal editor, Clive Goodman, in January 2005. In it, Goodman requested: "£500 cash credit to an identity protected source – David Alexander – London SW3. Credit for research".
Rebekah Brooks, former chief executive of News International who had edited both the News of the World and the Sun, and Coulson also deny conspiracy to intercept mobile phone voicemails.
Brooks also denies allegations relating to conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office, and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
Coulson and Goodman also deny conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office.
The case continues.
