7/7 mother: Newspaper hacked my son's phone

The mother of a 7/7 bombing victim is suing the Murdoch media empire after her son's mobile phone was allegedly targeted by the News of the World.

Sheila Henry has been told her son Christian Small, 27, was targeted by private investigators working for the now defunct Sunday tabloid in the hours he was missing after the explosion at Russell Square Tube station.

The marketing executive and talented athlete was one of 26 people killed on the Piccadilly line on his way to work in 2005.

The extraordinary development came as a select committee investigating phone-hacking recalled former News International executives James Murdoch and Les Hinton for further questioning by MPs.

Mr Murdoch, chairman of News International, will be asked to explain alleged discrepancies in his testimony to a previous hearing.

Last week, two key former NoW executives questioned his version of events and revealed astonishing secret payments by News International to private investigator Glenn Mulcaire and former royal editor Clive Goodman, who were jailed for phone-hacking in 2007.

Conservative MP John Whittingdale, who chairs the media select committee, said there were "a lot of loose ends" to tie up.

He said: "Clearly, there are different accounts which we have heard. In particular there are questions arising from the time when payments were made to Clive Goodman and Glenn Mulcaire.

We're also interested in hearing a bit more from the solicitors on some conflicting accounts."
The recall comes after former NI legal manager Tom Crone and former NoW editor Colin Myler claimed that Mr Murdoch, the heir apparent to Rupert Murdoch, must have known that illegal phone hacking was more widespread than admitted.

Mr Whittingdale added: "We spent some time questioning Tom Crone and Colin Myler last week about their version of what happened and therefore I think it's likely that we would obviously want to put that and to hear more from James Murdoch how he recalls the meeting."

Today, there was further drama at the High Court when Ms Henry won her bid to become a lead case in the legal inquiries into phone-hacking at the News of the World.

It is understood Ms Henry has been told by Scotland Yard that her son's mobile records were found in documents seized from Mr Mulcaire.

Mr Justice Vos added her to a list of alleged phone-hacking victims that includes Hollywood actor Jude Law, former Labour minister Chris Bryant and Lib-Dem MP Simon Hughes.

Her lawyer Mark Lewis said: "I can confirm that Sheila Henry has commenced proceedings and will be a 'lead case' representing the victims of crime and terrorist atrocities."

News Group Newspapers, a division of NI, has accepted liability and apologised for the phone-hacking but is contesting the damages to be paid.