Leveson: more alleged hacking victims granted core status

The Leveson inquiry has added five individuals to the list of those with core participant status, including singer Charlotte Church and former TV presenter Anne Diamond, who both allege that their phones were hacked by the News of the World.

Core participant status, which allows formal representation at the inquiry, was also granted to former Met police officer and Crimewatch presenter Jacqui Hames, who is also alleged to have been targeted by the tabloid, and to an anonymous individual, HJK.

It was announced yesterday that the inquiry had accepted submissions from the National Union of Journalists and Telegraph Media Group (TMG), which publishes the Daily and Sunday Telegraph. Accepting TMG's submission, Leveson said that he was doing so "for the sake of consistency", having approved an application in September from Trinity Mirror, publisher of the Daily Mirror.

Surrey Police also applied to the inquiry, following reports that they may have known that Milly Dowler's phone had been hacked by the News of the World at the time, claiming that they had a "significant interest" in ensuring that "the factual account was accurate and any unwarranted criticism was rebutted". The force's submission also suggested that the phones of a number of Surrey Police officers had had their phone targeted.

Despite stating that it was a "comprehensively argued" and "attractive" submission, Leveson refused the Surrey Police application. He has granted the Dowler family and the Met police core participant status, but said that Surrey Police are not in the same position but are "on the periphery" of the case instead, "in common with all other police forces".

Publishers that applied for and were granted core participant status in the initial round of submissions are News International, publisher of the now-defunct News of the World; Guardian News & Media, publisher of the Guardian; Northern & Shell, publisher of the Daily Express. The Metropolitan Police Service and 46 individuals were also granted core participant status.

The culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, revealed this morning in Parliament that the government would issue a white paper based on the findings of the inquiry by the end of 2012. The Leveson inquiry is expected to complete its report by September 2012.

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