Scotland Yard Chief Resigns Amid Hacking Scandal

Paul Stephenson says he is stepping down because of continued criticism and speculation over links between police and Rupert Murdoch's news empire.

News Corp.'s Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch, left, is seen last week with Rebekah Brooks, one of his top deputies who resigned her position as head of his company's British subsidiary. Both are set to testify before a parliamentary committee. (Olivia Harris, Reuters / July 18, 2011)

July 18, 2011Reporting from London— The head of Scotland Yard resigned Sunday amid a phone-hacking scandal that has reached into the highest levels of public life in Britain, a shocking turn of events that came hours after the arrest of one of media baron Rupert Murdoch's most trusted deputies.

Paul Stephenson said he was stepping down as commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service, as Scotland Yard is formally known, because of continued criticism and speculation over links between senior police officials and Murdoch's media empire.

Stephenson's announcement came hours after Rebekah Brooks, the former chief of Murdoch's British operations, was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intercept private voicemail messages and corruption charges stemming from bribes allegedly paid to police officers by journalists in exchange for information.

The two surprising developments are certain to focus greater attention on Murdoch's scheduled appearance Tuesday before a parliamentary committee to answer questions on the allegations of large-scale cellphone hacking by the News of the World, a now-defunct tabloid owned by his media conglomerate News Corp.

The scandal has reached far beyond the media to envelope the police, who have been accused of conducting a half-hearted investigation into the hacking allegations in order to preserve a good relationship with the press, and high-ranking politicians, who have also been criticized for maintaining too-cozy ties with the media, Murdoch's newspapers in particular.

Stephenson acknowledged that Scotland Yard's initial inquiry of allegations of phone hacking by the News of the World several years ago was inadequate, though he said he could only rely on the word of his subordinates that the investigation had been thorough and successful.

Stephenson said he was unaware of the existence of about 11,000 pages of evidence seized from a private investigator hired by the News of the World — papers that showed the tabloid may have ordered the hacking of the cellphones of nearly 4,000 people, including celebrities, politicians and crime victims.

Still, "as commissioner, I carry ultimate responsibility for the position we find ourselves in. With hindsight, I wish we had judged some matters involved in this affair differently. I didn't and that's it," he said in a videotaped statement.

The hacking allegations are now the subject of a massive new investigation by Scotland Yard headed by officers who were not involved in the original effort. Stephenson said the new inquiry would give the police "the opportunity to right the wrong done to victims."

He said it was important for him to step down now to allow the appointment of a new commissioner in good time before London hosts the Summer Olympics in 2012, which will require a mammoth security operation.

Stephenson also rejected allegations of impropriety over Scotland Yard's decision to hire a former executive editor of the News of the World as a part-time public-relations consultant at a time when the police were being pressed to renew their investigation into the hacking allegations. That editor, Neil Wallis, has since been arrested.

"My integrity is completely intact. I may wish we had done some things differently, but I will not lose any sleep over my personal integrity," Stephenson said emphatically.

Earlier Sunday, Brooks became the highest-ranking executive in Murdoch's media empire to be arrested in connection with the scandal.

Until her resignation Friday, Brooks was head of News International, News Corp.'s British subsidiary, and one of Murdoch's closest confidants. She served as editor of the News of the World from 2000 to 2003. In 2002, the paper is believed to have hacked into the cellphone of a kidnapped 13-year-old girl who was later found slain.

Last week, both Stephenson and Brooks were called to appear at the same parliamentary committee hearing as Murdoch to give evidence. Stephenson is still expected to attend Tuesday; Brooks' participation has now been thrown into doubt.

For Murdoch, the challenge Tuesday will be to strike the right note of humility and contrition, to answer questions as truthfully as he can while protecting his company's interests, and to remember that his audience extends far beyond the handful of lawmakers before him to millions of television viewers worldwide.

Analysts say it's the media mogul's only hope for salvaging a reputation so badly battered that a man once powerful enough to make British lawmakers come running finds himself being peremptorily summoned by them instead.