Supplementary written evidence submitted
by News International Ltd
Committee question 1:
Are Ross Hindley and Ross Hall one and the same
person?
Answer:
Yes
Committee question 2:
Can you confirm his birth name is in fact Ross
Hall and his date of birth is 31 January 1981 (making him 28,
not 20 as Tom Crone told us Q 1369).
Answer:
We have always understood his birth name to
be Ross Hindley. Regarding his age, yes, that is his birthday.
Mr Crone's answer was given in response to what seemed to be a
provocative and inaccurate comment and question from Paul Farrelly.
The context, seen on the film and transcript (relevant pages enclosed)
shows he was doing his best to correct Mr Farrelly's inaccurate
suggestion that Ross Hall "had to go to Peru" because
he was "posted there" by News Group Newspapers Ltd Mr
Crone did not know Ross Hall's exact age but understood him to
be significantly younger than 28. He was trying to convey to Mr
Farrelly that he was a very young man who had taken off to see
the world and the exact answer he gave was "...He's 20 years
old; he's got...however old he is...."—Mr Farrelly
then interrupted with another question. Had Mr Crone been allowed
to finish the answer, it might have been clear that he was not
sure of the exact age.
Committee question 3:
Can you confirm that he is the same Ross Hindley,
who is the nephew of former NotW editor Phil Hall, worked up to
2005 with the Romford Recorder and Ilford Recorder and was named
Essex Young Journalist of the Year in 2004.
Answer:
Yes, he is Phil Hall's nephew. Since he was
around 15-16 years of age he worked on the News of the World during
school and college holidays and quite often on Saturdays. His
role seemed to have been as a messenger or as the person who,
late on Saturdays, stood in at the Editor's PA's desk to mind
the phone after the Editor's PA left the office. We have no records
of his other previous employment but understand he trained and
worked for the Archant Group of newspapers in Essex for a while
before coming full-time to the News of the World in 2005. We have
(through Google) found a record of him being "highly commended"
for Essex Young Journalist 2004 but not winning that award.
Committee question 4:
Can you confirm when he joined the staff of
the NotW, that prior to 2005 he freelanced for NotW (and from
when), and what his current employment position is (Tom Crone
told us Hindley was then "in Peru" (Q 1364) and "on
holiday" (Q1368)).
Answer:
Please see the previous answer. Our understanding
is that Ross Hall is still on his travels. We have no knowledge
whether he is currently employed.
Committee question 5:
Can you explain why he changed his name for
bylines from Hindley, which he appears to have used in NotW up
to September 2006, to Hall?
Answer:
We believe he took his mother's maiden name
(Hall) after and because his parents separated.
December 2009
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