PHONE HACKING AND AN EMAIL THAT WARNED OF ‘NIGHTMARE SCENARIO’

RUPERT Murdoch’s younger son insists he did not turn ‘a blind eye’ to the phone-hacking scandal but admits he should have asked more questions.

In a series of public hearings James has repeatedly denied any knowledge that phone-hacking went beyond one ‘rogue reporter’.

Appearing before the Commons culture, media and sport committee he said he had never seen the infamous ‘For Neville’ email, which showed hacking at the News of the World extended beyond the paper’s jailed royal editor.

News International executives say he was aware of it because it was the sole reason for paying Gordon Taylor, of the Professional Footballers’ Association, a £425,000 settlement in 2008. But Mr Murdoch rejected claims by the Sunday newspaper’s ex-editor Colin Myler and former legal manager Tom Crone that they had made him aware of the significance of the crucial email.

He did admit receiving an email from Mr Myler in 2008 warning they faced a ‘nightmare scenario’, but said that because it arrived on a Saturday afternoon he did not read it fully.

In a letter to the Commons committee last month Mr Murdoch accepted his share of blame for not uncovering the scale of the phone-hacking scandal sooner, saying ‘with the benefit of hindsight . . . it would have been better if I had asked more questions, requested more documents and scrutinised them carefully’.