Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator convicted of hacking into cell phones on behalf of News Of The World, was ordered to reveal who at the tabloid told him to hack into the phones of several public figures.The Guardian reports that Mulcaire lost an appeal against an order to disclose who told him to hack the phones of [list].
Mulcaire is set to name the names by the end of next week.
As you may recall, Mulcaire was one of the only two people convicted in the original round of phone hacking revelations, along with one allegedly "rogue" journalist. Until just last week New Corp. was paying his legal bills as part of their agreement with him.
Mulcaire, who was jailed in 2007 after pleading guilty to hacking the phones of members of the royal household for the NoW, has been forced into making the disclosure after legal action by Steve Coogan. In February, the actor's lawyers argued in court that if it were proved that the paper had instructed Mulcaire to hack into the phones of the six public figures, it would show that phone hacking was taking place on an industrial scale.
Coogan's solicitor, John Kelly of Schillings, described Toulson's decision to refuse Mulcaire leave to appeal as "a very significant development". He said: "He will now have to identify exactly who at the News of the World asked him to access the mobile phones of the named individuals and who he provided the information to at the News of the World. Mr Mulcaire is due to provide these answers by the end of the month and we await his answers with interest."
Mulcaire now has no real incentive to protect News Corp. We are about to take the next step in the legally attested progression from "one rogue reporter" to "a few bad apples" to "systemic corruption".