James Murdoch 'should have done more' to stop phone hacking, MPs say

James Murdoch is expected to be formally criticised today in a landmark parliamentary report into the scale of phone-hacking at the News of the World.

A powerful cross-party group of MPs will conclude the former News International executive chairman should have done more to tackle widespread voicemail interception at the defunct Sunday tabloid.

However, the media select committee’s report, published later this morning, is thought to fall short of accusing Mr Murdoch of lying to Parliament.

It is set to find three other News International executives, Les Hinton, Colin Myler and Tom Crone, guilty of misleading the committee.

The report, which has been delayed for six months, reserves its strongest criticism for Mr Hinton, the former News International chief executive and a close friend of Rupert Murdoch for more than 50 years.

The 68-year-old appeared before the committee three times during its five year investigation into the News of the World, and told them phone-hacking was confined to one “rogue” reporter.

Other executives to face criticism include My Myler, the former NoW editor, and the newspaper’s ex-legal chief Mr Crone.

Much of their testimony has been criticised since police and parliamentary inquiries stepped up a gear last July after it emerged that the News of the World hacked into the voicemails of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, 13, when she was missing in 2002.

Last week, Rupert Murdoch told the Leveson Inquiry last week that he was a victim of a “cover-up” over the News of the World scandal.

The News Corp tycoon told the judicial investigation into the press that phone hacking was kept secret from people at the top of his media empire — including his son James and his protégé Rebekah Brooks.