Accio witnesses!
Harry Potter author JK Rowling and actor Hugh Grant are among those listed as “core participants” in the UK’s public inquiry into the News Of The World phone hacking scandal.
Rowling and Grant are among 46 government officials, celebrities, and sports stars “who have, or may have, suffered as a consequence of press activity.” Core participants are entitled to give evidence and participate, either personally or through a lawyer, in the public inquiry into alleged phone hackings that took place at now-defunct tabloid News Of The World and other British media outlets.
Lord Justice Leveson, perhaps the Dumbledore to Rupert Murdoch’s Voldemort, is leading the inquiry, scheduled to begin in October.
Grant became an apparent hero amongst the victims of the hackings after he got his revenge by secretly taping a NOTW reporter who claimed that former editor (and former chief of News Corp’s News International) Rebekah Brooks “absolutely” knew about the hackings.
Brooks was denied core participant status, but Leveson said: “I can visualise the possibility Mrs Brooks may be the subject of explicit or significant criticism, or at least may perceive herself to be so. It is, of course, open to me to reconsider her status at any stage of the inquiry.”
British newspaper groups other than News International, like Guardian News & Media and
Associated Newspapers, are also on the list, as well as the Metropolitan police (known as Scotland Yard).
Family members of murder victims like Diane Watson and Milly Dowler were also deemed “core participants.” The revelations that News Of The World reporters hacked into the voice messages of Dowler after her disappearance initially sparked the public outcry that caused Prime Minister David Cameron to announce the probe back in July.
Also included on the list are British MPs Chris Bryant, Tessa Jowell, Simon Hughes and Denis MacShane, John Prescott, a former Deputy Prime Minister, actors Sienna Miller and Calum Best and retired soccer player Paul Gascoigne. Full list here.
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