Former private eye Mulcaire loses appeal bid against phone hacking convictions

Former private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, who admitted hacking voicemails including those of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, has had a bid to challenge some of his convictions dismissed by the Court of Appeal.

Mulcaire was given a six-month prison sentence in 2007 for hacking offences committed while working for News Group Newspapers (NGN), the publisher of the now-defunct News of the World.

In 2014 he was given another six-month jail term, suspended for 12 months, after admitting four more hacking charges, including intercepting the voicemails of 13-year-old Milly, who was murdered by Levi Bellfield in 2002.

On Wednesday, Mulcaire’s barristers asked the Court of Appeal for the go-ahead to challenge the second set of convictions, claiming they were “unsafe”.

But three judges dismissed his appeal bid, stating that the case was “not arguable”, had “no prospect of success”, and had been brought too late.

Lord Justice Holroyde said: “The applicant has shown no good reason why such a long extension of time should be granted.”

He continued: “Even if we could be persuaded to grant the extension of time, it would serve no purpose because an appeal against convictions cannot succeed.”

Mulcaire, who was also known as Trigger, joined the News of the World in September 2001 and was responsible for hacking multiple people, including members of the royal family, celebrities and politicians.

In his ruling, Lord Justice Holroyde, sitting with Mr Justice Swift and Mr Justice Johnson, said Mulcaire was first jailed in 2006 after pleading guilty in November that year to conspiring to intercept telephone calls of members of the royal household and five counts of unlawfully intercepting the voicemails of other individuals.

He was charged in 2011 with three counts of conspiracy to unlawfully intercept communications, including the voicemails of people associated with former home secretary Charles Clarke and with unlawfully intercepting Milly’s voicemails.

He pleaded guilty to the offences in 2013 and was sentenced the following year, with his barristers at the sentencing telling the court that Mulcaire had faced bankruptcy and had become the “personification” of the News of the World scandal in the media.

NGN has previously said it issued an unreserved apology to victims of voicemail interception by the News of the World in 2011 and has since paid damages to “those with proper claims”.

On Tuesday, barrister James Manning told the hearing in London that Mulcaire was “wrongly advised” by his former legal team and “felt directly the pressure to plead guilty” as a result.

He said the appeal bid was being brought several years later because documents which he claimed supported Mulcaire’s case had “only recently come to light”.

“This applicant asserts that his convictions are unsafe, notwithstanding his guilty pleas, really because he pleaded guilty in circumstances where he was wrongly advised, badly advised, and did not understand the information that was being given,” he said.

“There was a claim against his solicitor. That was settled and, in the course of that case, documents came to light … which form the basis of this appeal.”

He added: “He knew what had happened… but in terms of having evidence to support his position and corroborate his recollections, (that) has only recently come to light.”

But Lord Justice Holroyde said Mulcaire’s appeal bid “is largely based on a misunderstanding” and that the judges “can see no arguable reason” to doubt that “no such advice” to plead guilty was given.

In a statement outside the Royal Courts of Justice, Mulcaire said the decision to charge him a second time was “deeply unfair” and that his legal advice was “fatally flawed”.

He said: “I’m disappointed in the judges’ decision to refuse my permission to appeal.

“I call now for the Government to implement the second part of the Leveson Inquiry.

“The public need to know what happened and who was responsible. I would be willing to assist such an inquiry and provide evidence.”

He added: “I served my time in 2007 and had started to rebuild my life over the subsequent few years. That was blown apart in 2011.

“I have found it almost impossible to find work since. For example, I recently qualified as a first responder in emergency care, but no-one has been willing to hire me.

“I still believe that the legal advice I was given was wrong.

“The effect of that flawed advice has been catastrophic for me and my family. We lost our house. We are still homeless.”