The original version of this post, which was available on the blog on 6 March 2012, contained a factual inaccuracy relating to the findings of the Information Commissioner’s Office Reports into “Operation Motorman”.

Solicitors acting for Associated Newspapers Limited have asked us to make clear that the ICO Reports did not specifically deal with phone hacking. 

The Reports in fact dealt with the role of the print media in the unlawful trade in confidential personal information. The Reports positively identified the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday as being involved in the highest (952) and fourth highest (266) number of transactions with a private investigator who had obtained information unlawfully, but there were no allegations of phone hacking made against the Daily Mail or the Mail on Sunday in the Reports.