CPS receives new hacking files

Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer has explained the latest developments in the investigation into allegations of phone hacking wrongdoing by journalists and police.

"At the moment there are 43 people currently on bail. The investigations are ongoing so it may well be that there are further arrests and further individuals to be considered," he says.

"One of the difficulties we face is that the courts have never defined 'the public interest'."

He described the questions of whether to charge journalists over hacking allegations as "really difficult decisions."

The Crown Prosecution Service guidelines on prosecuting journalists, published today, can be found here.

Scotland Yard detectives investigating alleged phone hacking and wider misconduct by journalists have passed four files to the Crown Prosecution service. The files were given to the CPS in the last few weeks.

It is a significant step in the investigation and means that the Director of Public Prosecution is being asked to begin to consider whether to charge those involved.

All the same a decision may not be made quickly and the DPP could ask for more evidence.

The files relate to the following cases:

• A journalist and a police officer concerning the Data Protection Act and misconduct in public office
• A journalist and 6 others concerning perverting the course of justice.
• A journalist concerning claims of witness intimidation.
• A journalist concerning the police investigation ‘operation Reaper’.