Rupert Murdoch's company accused of 'actively undermining' Met's phone-hacking investigation

25 April 2025, 22:09

The company run by media mogul Rupert Murdoch 'actively frustrated' Met police's phone-hacking investigation, according to court documents.

Court documents detail accusations against News Group Newspapers (NGN) made by former detectives, who suggested NGN "actively frustrated" the investigation into phone-hacking.

One detective said NGN senior executive Will Lewis - now the chief executive and publisher of the Washington Post - could have been arrested for perverting the court of justice, The Guardian reported.

The court documents detail statements made by two former detectives involved in the Met Police's investigation into phone hacking at NGN in 2011.

Such statements allegedly refer to the removal of 'millions' of NGN emails sent internally.

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Sue Akers - former deputy assistant commissioner in the Met - stated it seemed that NGN tried to "actively frustrate the police inquiry and undermine our ability to carry out a thorough investigation”, reported The Guardian.

Ms Akers also claimed that if she knew about certain discussions happening at Murdoch's company, she would have “launched an investigation into the matter terminating all contact with [NGN’s general manager] Will Lewis, who would have been a suspect in respect of the deletions”.

Another officer in the inquiry, dubbed Operation Weeting, also named Lewis.

Retired detective inspector Barney Ratcliffe claimed "he would have terminated contact with Will Lewis as a suspect and considered arresting him for perverting the course of justice”.

Lewis has denied any wrongdoing and did not respond to news outlet's request for comment.

NGN has denied the allegations and claimed its executives acted with 'integrity'.

In 20215, the Crown Prosecution Service said there was no evidence to suggest internal emails were deleted to pervert the course of justice.

The accusations from the ex-detectives are held in a document filed with London's high court.

The claims have not been tested at trial.

The document is in support of the previously long-running and hotly contested phone-hacking litigation against NGN by Prince Harry and Tom Watson, the former deputy leader of the Labour Party.

The case was settled out of court in January, offering an alleged payout in excess of £10m in damages and legal fees in favour of Prince Harry and Lord Watson.

Murdoch's company apologised to Harry for phone hacking by journalists at the News of the World and the "serious intrusion by the Sun between 1996 and 2011 into his private life, including incidents of unlawful activities carried out by private investigators working for the Sun”.

According to the NGN argument, the deletion of emails had been “long been in the planning, for sound commercial, IT and practical reasons”. It also suggested and Harry and Watson’s accusations had been based on “wholly unreasonable inferences from an incomplete account of the facts, many of which are taken entirely out of context”.

An NGN spokesperson said Akers and Ratcliffe’s statements formed a “selective and partial consideration of the contemporaneous documents”.

The spokesperson said: “NGN once again strenuously denies that there was any plan to delete emails in order to conceal evidence from a police investigation.

“Operation Weeting … was initiated in January 2011 after NGN handed incriminating material it had discovered to the Met police (MPS). From the first meeting held between NGN and the MPS, the MPS were made aware of the steps NGN had taken in relation to its historic email archive as well as the actions it had taken to preserve relevant evidence.

“NGN then worked alongside specialist IT officers at the MPS for months to reconstruct its electronic archives and those specialist officers rightly concluded that there was no deliberate attempt to destroy evidence.”

The spokesperson added: “Both during and following the criminal proceedings, the MPS and the CPS [Crown Prosecution Service] considered the actions of News International, including whether certain conduct amounted to perverting the course of justice.

“The allegations of email deletion had formed part of the prosecution case in the criminal trial in 2013-14. The investigation into News International concluded in 2015, almost 10 years ago, with a lengthy statement by the CPS deciding that no further action was to be taken in the light of there being no evidence to support an allegation of wrongdoing.”