Campaigners ask Leveson to publish Motorman files

A campaign group representing some of the alleged victims of newspaper phone-hacking has called on Lord Justice Leveson to publish the full data from a 2003 information commissioner's inquiry into newspapers' use of private investigators.

The Hacked Off group said there was a clear public interest for the Operation Motorman files, which have been seen by the Leveson inquiry, to be made public.

They contain details of the extent to which national newspapers used investigators to acquire personal information including criminal record checcks, driver vehicle licensing information and other data from the police national computer. Not all of the transactions referred to in the documents are illegal.

Hacked Off says the files remain secret and "reveal illegal and unethical practices across dozens of newspapers". They were, however, used as the basis for a extensive public report by the information commissioner six years ago, What Price Privacy?

The report found that 305 journalists, from 31 publications around the UK, had requested information from private investigator Steve Whittamore, whose home was raided by police in 2003 and who was later convicted of conspiring to commit misconduct in public office. The Daily Mail came top of the list.

Personal details would have to be redacted before the files were made public, but information about the kinds of people targeted and the information sought about them should remain, Hacked Off said.

Journalist Joan Smith, who is involved with the Hacked Off campaign, said in a release: "Now that the Leveson inquiry is unearthing so much about the practices of the British press, we need the Motorman files to get the full picture. The outsourcing of journalism to private detectives is at the heart of what went wrong and these files contain incredibly important information."

Hacked Off founder Brian Cathcart, who teaches journalism at Kingston University in London, added: "The records of Glenn Mulcaire blew open the hacking scandal at the News of the World. With Motorman we have a second database that may tell us just as much about press abuses at several other papers. There must not be another cover-up."

Free daily newsletter

If you like our news and feature articles, you can sign up to receive our free daily (Mon-Fri) email newsletter (mobile friendly).