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Prescott win in hacking case bid
2011-05-23 17:12:00
23 May 2011 Last updated at 15:24 Share this page Delicious Digg Facebook reddit StumbleUpon Twitter Email Print Phone hacking: Prescott wins High Court bid Lord Prescott and others want to know more about the Met's investigation
Four men who believe the News of the World hacked their phones have won their latest bid to mount legal action over police handling of the case.
They are former Deputy Prime Minister Lord Prescott, Labour MP Chris Bryant, ex-Scotland Yard boss Brian Paddick and journalist Brendan Montague.
The men, who believe their human rights were breached, have been seeking a judicial review at the High Court.
Judge Mr Justice Foskett ruled their cases could now go to a full hearing.
He said Lord Prescott, Mr Bryant and Scotland Yard's former deputy assistant commissioner Mr Paddick each had "an arguable case for seeking the relief claimed by way of judicial review".
He added that he was not "truly persuaded" Mr Montague had such an arguable claim but he would allow it to proceed with the others.
Lord Prescott and the others taking legal action had a previous application for judicial review rejected in February.
Reacting to the latest developments, Lord Prescott said he welcomed the decision and looked forward to receiving "full and proper explanations".
'Incompetence'He told BBC Radio 4's World At One: "What is necessary is that judges have to make the judgement where there are disputes; that's what parliament asked them to do.
"So today, what the judge has done, to be fair, has reversed the decision of the previous judge who said we couldn't have a judicial hearing into the inadequacies and the incompetence of the Metropolitan Police, who deliberately withheld information from it."
Mr Bryant said people following the case would be asking why police limited their investigation in 2006 "to just a very few cases".
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