UK police won't reopen Murdoch paper phonetap case

By Peter Griffiths

LONDON (Reuters) - British police said on Thursday they would not reopen investigations into the interception of celebrities' mobile phone voicemails by journalists, despite new allegations against a Rupert Murdoch newspaper.

According to a report in The Guardian newspaper, reporters at Murdoch's bestselling News of the World worked with private investigators to access "two or three thousand" private mobile phones belonging to celebrities, lawmakers and public figures.

Actors Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow, Australian model Elle Macpherson and former British deputy prime minister John Prescott were among those targeted by journalists seeking stories for the Sunday newspaper, according to the report.

The story generated a political storm and Prime Minister Gordon Brown said there were "serious questions to be answered." But police said they would not reopen a 2005 investigation that led to the jailing of two men, News of the World reporter Clive Goodman and a private investigator, for hacking into the phones of staff working for the royal family.

Assistant Commissioner John Yates of the Metropolitan Police said the original probe had concluded that phone tapping had occurred in only a minority of cases. All those victims had been informed, he said.

"Their potential targets may have run into hundreds of people, but our inquiries showed that they only used the tactic against a far smaller number of individuals," Yates said.

"No additional evidence has come to light since this case has concluded. I therefore consider that no further investigation is required."

DEMANDS FOR INQUIRY

The Guardian had reported that News International, the British newspaper subsidiary of media company News Corp, had already paid 1 million pounds ($1.6 million) to settle court cases with three people -- including soccer executive Gordon Taylor -- whose phones were violated.

The Guardian said private investigators working for the News of the World intercepted voicemail messages and gained access to personal data such as itemized phone bills and bank statements.

Ruling Labour Party politicians called for an inquiry into the police's actions, Murdoch's newspapers and the opposition Conservative Party, which hired former News of the World editor Andy Coulson as its communications chief in May 2007.

Conservative leader David Cameron insisted he would not get rid of Coulson who resigned as the paper's editor shortly after Goodman was jailed.

The case has also reignited debate over the ethics of Britain's fiercely competitive tabloids, which thrived for years on a brash mix of sex, scandal and "showbiz exclusives" before seeing sales fall sharply in the face of Internet competition.

The Information Commissioner's Office, a privacy watchdog, said it gave Taylor's lawyers evidence last year of News International reporters buying and selling personal information after the ICO received a court order.

"This included material that showed that 31 journalists working for The News of the World and The Sun had acquired people's personal information through 'blagging'," Assistant Information Commissioner Mick Gorrill said in a statement.