A senior News of the World executive is fingered in the UK phone hacking case

DISGRACED TABLOID RAG News of the World (NOTW) has had one of its senior executives implicated in the UK phone hacking row that has engulfed Rupert Murdoch's News International.

Jude Law, one of the alleged victims of NOTW's hacking activities, has filed a civil lawsuit against NOTW. His barrister, Hugh Tomlinson QC, made the shocking revelation after saying that documents seen by Law's legal team had the name of a senior NOTW executive in them.

Lawyers representing NOTW contested Tomlinson's claim but the BBC described Tomlinson's disclosure to the court as a "bombshell moment". As the sordid saga of phone hacking has been played out over several years, one of the persistent questions that has remained unanswered has been, just how high up did the paper trail of illicit surveillance and corruption go?

Then NOTW editor, Andy Coulson, has always denied knowledge of phone hacking during his time at Murdoch's tabloid newspaper. Just about everyone who has worked in print journalism finds that claim to be astonishing, however Tomlinson's statement suggests that people higher up than Coulson knew about the illegal activities that were going on.

Tomlinson's statement came as Mr Justice Vos stated that Jude Law's case would be one of five 'test cases' in the civil action against NOTW. The other cases feature Labour MP Chris Bryant, Kelly Hoppen, Andy Gray and Sky Andrew. Hoppen is the stepmother of Sienna Miller, who last week accepted £100,000 from NOTW and an admission of liability that it had hacked her phone.

Although the name of the senior NOTW executive is not yet in the public domain, the fact that Law's legal team felt confident enough to bring a specific name in front of the judge should mean that it will carry some weight. It also brings up further questions of just how Coulson could claim that he was totally unaware of the actions of high level staff working directly under him.

News International, the Murdoch run media conglomerate that owns NOTW, might end up paying a very high price for its activities if the five test cases go against it. Other newspapers on Fleet Street will be watching events unfold with great interest to see what, if any, exposure they might face should they be implicated in similar shenanigans. µ