Buscombe expresses regret over PCC phone-hacking probe

The former chair of the Press Complaints Commission has expressed "regret" about the body's handling of its investigation into alleged phone hacking.

Baroness Buscombe said that, with hindsight, the PCC did not have the power to properly investigate the issue, and she regretted a report which found no evidence that phone hacking was ongoing.

The report, in 2009, concluded that the Guardian's coverage of phone hacking "did not quite live up to the dramatic billing they were initially given".

Buscombe told the Leveson inquiry today: "The commission as a whole accepted this wording. I put my name to it, but I was never comfortable with it. We did not have the structure or processes to seriously consider this whole issue.

"This is a report that, with hindsight, I regret. I was clearly misled by News International, I accepted what they had told me. I felt somewhat hands tied, merely being able to ask questions and write letters to editors. One or two editors didn't even bother to reply."

Buscombe stepped down from the PCC last year, amid growing criticism about its role in the phone-hacking investigation.

She added: "What could we do? If we'd done nothing – I'd try to imagine the reaction when we're calling ourselves the PCC and we're trying to be credible.

"We felt we had a regulatory role to perform. There was nothing else."

Earlier in the hearing, Baroness Buscome said: "I want to support the self-regulatory system, but this demands a degree of trust and the issue for me became a problem of trust.

"We felt that we hadn't been told the truth. There came a time when I had to question the editors on the commission, in my head. It was very difficult."

Buscombe said Lord Hunt's contractual regulation proposal was "the right thing to do" but would be "very difficult" to encourage everyone to take part.

"It's a good start. A lot of thought has been given to how you encourage all those to come on board."

She said a system that could rebuild trust between the press and the public was "paramount".

"You can make a system that's super fit, but it's about culture in newsrooms. Can you have a system that changes the culture in newsrooms?"

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