Myler sanctioned private investigator's NUJ membership
18.05.12
Former News of the World editor Colin Myler has admitted sanctioning the decision to encourage private investigator Derek Webb to become a member of the National Union of Journalists.
The news that a senior executive at the News of the World told Webb to "stop being a private detective and become a journalist" was first revealed by NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet at the Leveson Inquiry in November
The claim was confirmed by Myler when he appeared at the inquiry this afternoon.
Last month it emerged that Webb had carried out surveillance on more than 100 celebrities, sports stars, politicians and royals for the NoW including Prince William, Simon Cowell, Gary Lineker, Paul McCartney and Boris Johnson, as well as two lawyers representing phone-hacking victims, Mark Lewis and Charlotte Harris.
Myler told the inquiry today that the first he became aware of Webb was after he was arrested and charged as a join defendant in the 2008 Sally Murrer case, a local press journalist was charged - and later acquitted - of aiding and abetting misconduct in a public office.
Source: Press Gazette