Rupert Murdoch Admits There Was A 'Cover-Up'

In the latest round of the Leveson inquiry, media mogul Rupert Murdoch has offered his most complete apology yet for his shortcomings in the News of the World phone-hacking scandal.

Admitting the affair was a "serious blot on my reputation", he said he had been "misinformed and shielded" from what was going on at the paper.

In moments of contrition the 81-year-old went on to say he believed there had been a "cover-up" at the tabloid – and while he panicked amid the furore following the Milly Dowler hacking revelations last summer, he wished he had closed the controversial title "years before".

News Corporation's chief executive told a packed courtroom that "I also have to say that I failed" – but insisted that he personally did not know about the true scale of phone hacking until late 2010 and indicated he believed that subordinates such as Colin Myler, the former News of the World editor, and the title's chief lawyer Tom Crone, kept him in the dark.

Tom Watson, the Labour MP who helped uncover the hacking scandal, said Murdoch's apologies represented a development. "He was an unreliable witness and showed little contrition by pointing the finger at many of his former executives. But at least he admitted for the first time that there had been a cover-up."

(H)