James Murdoch claims did not know extent of phone-hacking

Former chairman of News International faces forensic questioning at an inquiry into media ethics

James Murdoch, former Chairman of News International, today stuck to his stand that he did not see a crucial email that indicated phone-hacking was widespread in the now-defunct News of the World tabloid, as he faced forensic questioning at an inquiry into media ethics.

In a widely watched deposition at Lord Justice Brian Leveson's inquiry, 39-year-old Murdoch was subjected to close scrutiny on the issue of how much he knew about unethical news-gathering practices at the tabloid. His father, Rupert Murdoch, is scheduled to appear before the inquiry tomorrow.

Since the phone-hacking row blew up last summer, Murdoch's stand has been that he did not know the extent of illegal and unethical news gathering practices, and that if he had know then, he would have stopped them and put into place systems to prevent recurrence.

The email in question – known as 'For Neville' – indicated that the use of private investigator Glen Mulcaire by journalists of the News of the World was more widespread than just "one rogue reporter," as was claimed at the time.

In a key exchange, after Murdoch stuck to his earlier stand, inquiry counsel Robert Jay said: "There are two possibilities here. Either you were told of the evidence that linked others at the News of the World to Mulcaire and this was in effect a cover up, or you weren't told and you didn't read the emails properly and there was failure of governance at the company – do you accept that?"

Murdoch maintained that at the time he was given "sufficient information" to settle a legal issue being discussed with senior executives, but not sufficient information "to go and turn over a whole lot of stones".