Times editor apologises to UK judge for not disclosing police blogger's email hacking

Herald Globe (ANI) Wednesday 8th February, 2012

James Harding, the editor of the British newspaper, The Times, has apologised to a high court judge for his failure to admit earlier that a reporter had hacked into the email of an anonymous police blogger.

Harding wrote to Justice Eady explaining what he described as a "terrible" decision to remain quiet about the reporter named Patrick Foster illegally accessing the email account of Richard Horton, a policeman, who blogged anonymously under the name of NightJack.

Harding also admitted to the Leveson Inquiry into the media standards, that Foster had discovered the blogger's name by hacking into his email account, which the editor knew as the judge considered his decision in the case.

Harding accepted that Justice Eady might have 'exploded' if he had known about the hacking at the time he was considering his ruling, and also apologised to Horton, saying he "sorely regretted" the intrusion, The Telegraph reports.

Harding, who first admitted that a reporter had been disciplined over computer hacking when he gave evidence to the inquiry last month, was recalled by Lord Justice Leveson after further details came to light.

He handed over emails that showed that Foster had told the newspaper's legal manager, Alastair Brett, that he had hacked Horton's emails weeks before the newspaper went to court for the right to name the blogger.

According to the paper, instead of disciplining Foster, Brett told him that if he wanted to pursue the story he would have to find a way of showing he could have worked out Horton's identity by legitimate means. (ANI)