Leveson Inquiry

  • Phone Hacking Scandal

    News of the World editor Clive Goodman and PI Glenn Mulcaire were convicted of intercepting phone messages
  • Public Inquiries announcement

    David Cameron announced a public inquiry under the 2005 inquiry Act that would be chaired by Lord Justice Leveson following the revelation that News of the World reporters had hacked murder victim, Milly Dowler's phone
  • Press release

    A press release announced that part 1 of the inquiry would discuss the culture, practice and ethics of the press and to regulate the extent to which the system had failed and that part 2 would focus on police corruption. It also spoke about the 46 core suspects in the case consisting of politicians, victims sportsmen and other public figures
  • First Module

    The number of core participants increased to 51.
    Hearings began for the first module discussing the relationship between the press and public including testimonies from Sally Dowler (mother of Milly Dowler), Kate and Jerry McCann, and Chris Jeffries (wrongly convicted for the murder for Joanna Yeates), Hugh Grant, J.K. Rowling, Piers Morgan etc. Also discussed representations of women in tabloids
  • Second Module

    Examined relationship between the press and the police, say testimonies from Lord Prescott, Brian Paddick, John Yates and Andy Hayman
  • Final Module

    Spoke about the relationship between the press and politicians, saw testimony from 4 prime ministers and figures such as Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch, Aiden Barclay, Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks
  • Report/Publication

    2000 page final report posted with a 48 page executive summary. Found existing Press Complaints Commission was not sufficient and recommended a new body that would have a range of sanctions available including fines, apologies and corrections. Membership was voluntary but incentivised. Also made recommendations regarding the Data Protection Act