Culture, Media and Sport CommitteeWritten evidence submitted by Linklaters LLP

In his letter to you of 11 August, Mr James Murdoch enclosed a copy of a letter dated 2 March 2007 from Mr Clive Goodman to Mr Daniel Cloke. There were a number of redactions on the face of that letter. All of the redactions were made clear. The redaction of individual words and phrases was plain as they were “blacked out”. The redaction of paragraphs (iii) and (iv) was clear because the paragraph numbering went from (ii) to (v) thereby showing that the intervening paragraphs had been redacted.

There has been some media comment over the last two days suggesting that News International made these redactions in order to “cover up” the truth. That is not correct. News International voluntarily submitted this letter in unredacted form to the Metropolitan Police in June of this year. It cannot fairly be asserted that the company was trying to “cover up” this letter when it had itself given the entire letter to those responsible for the relevant criminal investigation.

The redactions were made following guidance from the Metropolitan Police. Those redactions were made by a partner in this firm. No News International or News Corporation officer or employee took any part in deciding what to redact. The redactions were made in order to remove any content which might identify any individual or group and to avoid any prejudice to any new line of enquiry. The Metropolitan Police are anxious to ensure that their investigations are not prejudiced and that any trial is not rendered unfair by widespread publicity. News International shares this concern.

18 August 2011