The judgment you might hear about – and the one you probably won’t
If you’re not following events via one of the alternative news media, you might have heard that actor Hugh Grant agreed to settle his phone-hacking claim against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) for an undisclosed six-figure sum that he has donated to the ‘Hacked Off’ campaign.
If you look very, very closely, you might also have noticed that Crimewatch presenter and former police officer Jacqui Hames also settled her claim against Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers.
Grant is quoted in most articles at some length. Ms Hames receives merely a mention. For example, the BBC News website article on the settlement mentions her only once in the text of the article and the sum total provided is:

A few publications add that she received ‘substantial damages and an apology’, but apart from that small variation the pattern is repeated across the mainstream media (MSM) publications.
Mentions on broadcast news programmes of even the bones of either case were few and thin – and the full facts of the Hames case were skirted if they featured at all.
The Hames case – the part almost no one is mentioning
But Ms Hames’ case is far, far wider than ‘phone-hacking’. Almost uniquely, the Press Gazette‘s story – though not its tweet about the story – touches on it:

The illegal activity against Hames also extended to her police officer husband, David Cook, and was carried out during the time they were investigating the murder of Daniel Morgan on Crimewatch in 2002.”
This is not in doubt, not contested. News Group admitted it in court and offered ‘sincere apologies’.
Daniel Morgan was killed with an axe in 1987 and his murder has never been solved. Morgan was a partner with a private investigation firm with extensive, illegal dealings with Murdoch’s now-defunct News of the World.
Outside the courtroom, Ms Hames gave waiting journalists more detail of what she and her family suffered at the hands of News Group Newspapers:
To think that they undertook surveillance and harassment of myself and my family at a time when my husband was investigating a notorious murder and in fact that company had links to the suspect in that murder is nothing short of appalling and deserves so much more scrutiny than has been given now.
This is clearly an industry wide problem which requires Part Two of Leveson to get the full scope of criminal activity but activity that is disrupting the lives of people unnecessarily.
The government appear to be supporting the news corporations in court but failing to follow through with part two and once again we have the press being judge and jury on their own court.
This situation is just completely unacceptable and cannot go on.
News Group illegally followed, monitored, harassed and hacked a Crimewatch presenter and her serving police officer husband – at a time when they were investigating the murder of a partner in a firm that turned out to have an extensive history of illegal activity with News Group’s News of the World.
Leveson-2 regulation – MSM ‘kryptonite’
And that hasn’t rated a mention in the MSM – nor has the vindicated claimants’ calls for the implementation of part two of the Leveson recommendations in order to protect others in future.
Recommendations that would force the mainstream press to submit to genuine independent regulation instead of the cosy situation they currently enjoy in the so-called ‘independent’ regulator that they run and fund, IPSO – an organisation that Hacked Off called ‘the illusion of reform‘.
A regulator that would regulate. That would be kryptonite to the MSM.
One already exists – IMPRESS, the regulator to which the SKWAWKBOX and other ‘new left media’ subscribe. The MSM tried to shut it down.
Huge news – or should be
The surveillance, following, harassment and hacking of a police officer is huge news – and a gigantic scandal – yet there has been barely a peep in the mainstream media.
Which means that if you want the real story, you need, once again, to read the alternative media that the government and corporations want to clamp down on.
Which means, in this instance, Byline Media‘s coverage by Peter Jukes and the information he has published jointly with Alastair Morgan, the brother of the murdered man.
And then you need to share it – because your family, friends and neighbours will not be hearing about it on the nightly news.
Comment:
The government and Facebook are planning to limit people’s access to news not from ‘trusted sources’ – but the ‘trusted sources’ are the least trustworthy. This is a prize example of why those plans need to be defeated.
The SKWAWKBOX needs your support. This blog is provided free of charge but depends on the generosity of its readers to be viable. If you can afford to, please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal. Thanks for your solidarity so this blog can keep bringing you information the Establishment would prefer you not to know about.
If you wish to reblog this post, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.
Stop Murdoch taking over Sky
https://speakout.38degrees.org.uk/campaigns/murdoch-petition
There is actually an article in today’s Financial Times that goes into the detail of Hames’s press comments and the Morgan connection with NoW and the surveillance Hames and husband were subjected to.
Will there ever be justice?
It’s looking more and more there won’t be!
Not until the Socialist Left Labour Party with Jeremy Corbyn as leader will we know the truth of this “STINKING COVERUP”, by the right leaning press and the media outlets!
With the backing of this lying corrupt Tory Government!