Former News of the World news editor Greg Miskiw arrives for sentencing at the Old Bailey in London on 4 July 2014. Picture: Reuters/Neil Hall
Former Mail on Sunday associate editor Chris Anderson has denied buying illegally-sourced stories from phone hacker Greg Miskiw (pictured).
Emails exchanged between Anderson and Greg Miskiw in 2006 form a key part of the illegal newsgathering claim brought by Prince Harry and others against Mail publisher Associated Newspapers in an ongoing privacy trial.
Miskiw was at the time apparently working as a freelance selling stories that had been illegally sourced by private investigator Glenn Mulcaire. Both were convicted of phone hacking for the News of the World some years later.
The privacy claimants allege that Mulcaire listened to actress Sadie Frost’s phone messages in April 2006 to reveal details of a private dispute with her nanny. They allege Mulcaire also sourced phone numbers and billing data relating to Frost.
They further claim that Miskiw used illegal methods to track down a man believed to be in a romantic relationship with the Liberal Democrat MP Simon Hughes, who had gone public about his sexuality in The Sun earlier in the year .
Hughes and Frost are among the claimants seeking damages from Associated Newspapers in the current privacy action.
An email between Miskiw and Anderson dated 20 April included direct quotes from Frost relating to the dispute. Miskiw then apparently provided addresses and a phone number for the nanny and Anderson responded: “Thanks Greg, we’re going to give her a knock.”
Claimant lawyers allege that Miskiw and Mulcaire unlawfully invaded the privacy of Hughes in order to identify and photograph his then boyfriend (identified only as HJK). Hughes said that HJK was subsequently doorstepped by an Associated Newspapers journalist following emails between Miskiw and Anderson.
No story was published in the Mail on Sunday about either matter.
The claimants quote another email sent by Miskiw to Anderson: “You did say you would stick me through for £500 for Simon Hughes and Sadie.” And they say Miskiw was subsequently paid £500.
The claimants quote an statement attributed to Miskiw ( who died in 2021 ) stating Anderson “knew that I sourced stories through the dark arts (and therefore unlawful means including blagging and voicemail interception) whether or not they knew about Glenn Mulcaire’s specific role”.
Anderson said in his witness statement: “I have never committed or commissioned a third party to commit phone hacking. In fact, to the best of my recollection I was not even aware that phone hacking existed until Clive Goodman was arrested in August 2006, and certainly not as a tool used in news gathering.
“Mr Miskiw never discussed Glenn Mulcaire with me nor any unlawful or illegal services which Glenn Mulcaire could offer. That is not the sort of conversation which I would forget.”
He said he knew Miskiw from the time when they both worked at the News of the World, but said: “I never commissioned Mr Miskiw or got in touch with him, nor was there any regular contact between us. I do not remember him ever getting a story into The Mail on Sunday.”
Anderson noted that Miskiw contacted him in 2016, after his time in jail, to say he was “working for people who were working for solicitors” and “had been asked to investigate whether there was phone hacking at the Mail”.
He acknowledged there was an email exchange with Miskiw regarding Hughes in 2006. He said: “I do not remember questioning the source of Mr Miskiw’s tip, but I note from the email exchange that he states that his source was putting pressure on him. I would have expected him to have sources and I would never have asked him to identify a confidential journalistic source.”
He added: “Had Mr Miskiw ever said to me that the information had been obtained by unlawful means, I would not have accepted it. I would have extricated myself from discussions with him and put out a bulletin to department heads not to use him again.”
Anderson said he recalled receiving an email from Miskiw about Frost and would have skimmed it on his Blackberry whilst attending the main morning news conference.
He said: “I do not specifically recall, but I think I would have passed the tip on to the newsdesk. I would not have given the email much thought or looked at it again or considered it to be significant by any means; it would just have been one of a number of tips we received at the Mail on Sunday that might eventually lead to a story (although I note that this one did not).”
He added: “It did not occur to me at the time that the tip information might have been obtained unlawfully or from a voicemail. I would have expected Mr Miskiw to have sources, and in our email exchange he actually referred to his source. I therefore did not think about whether the information received could have been obtained via unlawful means, nor would I have had any reason to do so.”
Regarding the £500 apparently paid to Miskiw for tips about Frost and Hughes he said: “I assume that Mr Miskiw asked for a fee and I think that I must have agreed to one as I knew that he was down on his luck and it was easier to agree to one than argue about it.”
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