No action against police who 'bungled' hacking case

Scotland Yard has not taken any disciplinary action against officers on the original inquiry into phone hacking despite mounting evidence that they failed to follow leads and misled potential victims about the amount of information on them held by a jailed private investigator.

The Metropolitan Police has confirmed that no officer has been disciplined as a result of failings in the heavily criticised investigation into Glenn Mulcaire, who illegally accessed voicemails for the News of the World.

Since the launch of the new inquiry in January, detectives have made connections between cases and identified new victims who were previously told by officers that there was "little or no" information about them in files seized from Mr Mulcaire's home. Investigators have also been working with new email evidence that had apparently been undetected in the archives of the NOTW's owner, News International.

Operation Weeting appears to be evidence of the Met's determination to crack a case which has damaged its reputation. But questions remain about the original inquiry, led by Assistant Commissioners Andy Hayman and John Yates. They have defended the inquiry, pointing out that it led to the jailing of Mr Mulcaire and the NOTW's royal editor Clive Goodman and had sent out an important warning to reporters.

A Commons committee criticised the Met for not interviewing any journalists beyond Goodman, inquiring into the contract with Mulcaire or forcing the paper to disclose further information.

Referring to an emailed transcript marked "for Neville" – an apparent reference to the NOTW's chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck – the Media Select Committee said: "The email was a strong indication both of additional lawbreaking and of the possible involvement of others. These matters merited thorough police investigation."