U.K. to End Long-Running Probe into Alleged Phone Hacking

LONDON—British prosecutors said Friday they will no longer pursue cases stemming from the police's long-running investigations into alleged phone hacking by journalists, bringing to an end a contentious chapter in U.K. public life.

No further action will be taken against News Corp's British newspapers or 10 individuals at the rival Trinity Mirror group, the Crown Prosecution Service said in a statement. Police had been investigating phone hacking generally for nearly nine years, but intensified their efforts in 2011 amid a series of wide-ranging public inquiries into the ethics of newsgathering methods by the British press.

Those inquiries, one by lawmakers and another by a senior judge, were initially sparked by revelations that some reporters had unlawfully accessed messages left on the cellphones of celebrities and public figures.

"After a thorough analysis, we have decided there is insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of a conviction and therefore no further action will be taken in any of these cases," said the nation's top prosecutor, Alison Saunders.

In a statement, News Corp's British newspaper unit, News UK, said it welcomed the decision not to prosecute the company.

"Long ago, we apologised for the conduct that occurred, immediately took steps to pay compensation to those affected, and updated and instituted substantial reforms in our business to ensure our governance is second to none," the statement said. "Following a thorough and exhaustive investigation, and after many long trials, enquiries and proceedings, this matter has been concluded and the right decision has been taken."

A spokeswoman for News Corp, the publisher of The Wall Street Journal, said the company had nothing to add beyond what News UK said in its statement.

Trinity Mirror said it had been informed that the criminal investigation into the alleged phone hacking had concluded and that no further action would be taken against the company. A spokeswoman for the company declined to comment further.

The decision not to bring corporate wrongdoing charges against News Corp's British newspapers marks the final act of the wide-ranging probe that yielded 12 prosecutions, nine convictions, and three acquittals.

Among those cleared by jurors was Rebekah Brooks, a top News International executive who went on trial in late 2013 alongside other figures from the company's U.K. newspaper subsidiary. While the eight-month court battle captured the public imagination and shone a spotlight on practices at several British newspapers, prosecutors were left with little to show for the effort.

Ms. Brooks, who pleaded not guilty, was acquitted of all charges, including phone hacking, bribery and two counts of obstruction of justice.

Of the four defendants on trial alongside Ms. Brooks, the only one convicted was former News of the World editor Andy Coulson, who was found guilty of conspiring to intercept voice-mail messages and sentenced to 18 months in prison.

News Corp closed the News of the World tabloid in 2011 amid a public uproar following disclosures that journalists at the paper in 2002 had hacked the phone of British teenager Milly Dowler, who was later found murdered.

On Friday, prosecutors said the decision not to bring charges against News Corp's British newspapers stemmed in part from a lack of evidence connecting any executives more senior than Mr. Coulson to the alleged phone hacking. In British law, for a corporate wrongdoing charge to stick, it must be proved that any alleged malfeasance came at the direction of those at the very top of an organization.

"We are satisfied that corporate criminal liability cannot be attributed to the company through the actions of Andy Coulson as he cannot be considered to have been the 'controlling mind and will' of News Group Newspapers," said prosecutors.

Evidence gleaned from a separate police operation investigating 10 individuals for alleged phone hacking at titles owned by Mirror Group Newspapers has been shelved, said prosecutors.

One ex-Mirror Group journalist, Graham Johnson, an investigative reporter for the group's Sunday Mirror title, was convicted of illegally intercepting voice mails in a trial late last year.

Former CNN talk-show host Piers Morgan, who edited the company's Daily Mirror tabloid from 1995 to 2004, was questioned in April by police as part of the investigation, dubbed Operation Golding.

A series of posts from Mr. Morgan's official Twitter account said he had been told by prosecutors on Friday that no further action would be taken against him in respect of the police's phone hacking investigation.

"As I've said since the investigation began four years ago, I've never hacked a phone nor have I ever told anybody to hack a phone," said one of the posts from Mr. Morgan's Twitter account.

London's Metropolitan Police force, which has led the criminal investigations, said it acknowledges and accepts the Crown Prosecution Service decision. A Scotland Yard spokeswoman confirmed that the force's investigation into phone hacking had now concluded.

Write to Alexis Flynn at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 11, 2015 13:05 ET (18:05 GMT)

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