Days before Rebekah Brooks returns to her old job as chief executive of Rupert Murdoch’s UK print business, the former director of security at News International has promised to reveal a shock-laden account of “confessions” he claims to have overheard and noted down while in the company of those who stood trial for phone hacking.
Mark Hanna posted an extraordinary YouTube video where he claimed the re-appointment of the former editor of the News of the World and The Sun meant “Mr Murdoch’s middle finger being shoved right in my face”.
Mr Hanna, a former soldier, was cleared along with Ms Brooks and her husband Charlie of involvement in a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. He had been accused of helping Mr and Ms Brooks to remove and conceal documents, computers and electronic equipment from their homes in Oxfordshire and at their London flat in Chelsea Harbour.
Mr Hanna had expected to be reinstated to his senior role when the jury cleared him last year. But in January, he was made redundant by News UK, the rebranded News International (NI).
"As time went on, more issues came to light, and again after reporting my concerns of potential illegal activity, which are classed as protected disclosures, I was told just to carry them out without regard to who it involved. This blasé attitude was never so relevant than today with the reinstatement of Rebekah Brooks.” (Getty)
He is currently involved in legal proceedings against the Murdoch-owned company over the £30,000 he is reported to have been offered as part of his severance.
Mr Hanna said the return of Ms Brooks – who received around £10.8m when she resigned from NI in 2011, plus legal costs of around £6m – had left people “up in arms” and was “two fingers up to the nation and those that were victims of the company’s illegal activities”.
In a two-minute video, he stated his intention to stand up to the “Murdochs and Brookses of this of world” who “treat us all with contempt”. He said despite “whistle-blowing”, his “numerous warnings of potential illegal activity” inside NI had been ignored.
Ms Brooks’s return, despite her closeness to Mr Murdoch, is being seen as a gamble by the global boss of News Corp.
Mr Hanna promised to reveal what it was like working “in one of the most hated organisations in the UK, if not the world”. (Getty)
Mr Hanna promised to reveal what it was like working “in one of the most hated organisations in the UK, if not the world”. This may unnerve the senior ranks of News Corp, who learned last week that the UK Crown Prosecution Service is currently examining evidence from Scotland Yard and has not ruled out charges of corporate criminal liability from being brought against the company.
During the lengthy proceedings at the Old Bailey, Mr Hanna was regularly seated behind the dock’s glass wall alongside Andy Coulson, Mr and Ms Brooks, her former personal assistant, Cheryl Carter, and others. Only Coulson, from this group, was found guilty and jailed.
In his posted video, Mr Hanna said: “Having been extremely close to some of those who pulled the strings within the company and gaining their trust, as well as sitting there every day in the dock ... conversations took place, notes were taken, and even confessions were made.”
From the day he joined NI, he said, “things were not right, from the dealing with intrusive surveillance to uncleared payments”.
“Having always been law-abiding and doing things by the book, I handed my concerns to the relevant management, but was always told to ignore things.
“As time went on, more issues came to light, and again after reporting my concerns of potential illegal activity, which are classed as protected disclosures, I was told just to carry them out without regard to who it involved. This blasé attitude was never so relevant than today with the reinstatement of Rebekah Brooks.”
Read more: News Corp could face corporate charges
Rupert Murdoch predicts Corbyn will win leadership contest
Brooks return described as a 'two fingers' to hacking victims
Mr Hanna added: “I intend to tell you everything that I know, which I’m sure will shock everybody.”
Three months ago, at an employment tribunal in Croydon, Mr Hanna challenged his settlement from News UK. After the hearing, he described the way he was being treated as “wrong, immoral and unjust”.
Currently unemployed and living on benefits, he is understood to have told friends that the fall-out from the hacking trial had left him unemployable in the security industry.
News UK would make no formal comment on the contents of Mr Hanna’s YouTube video. However, a company official confirmed that his legal case against his former employer was still ongoing.
