Ex-editor denies any knowledge of phone hacking

TORY communications chief Andy Coulson admitted yesterday that “things went badly wrong” under his editorship of the News of the World – but rejected any suggestion he knew about alleged phone-hacking by the paper’s journalists.

He told MPs he had been deceived by one “rogue” reporter who was involved in illegally accessing telephone messages on the telephones of royal aides.

But he acknowledged his ultimate responsibility for the scandal, adding that he had paid for it by sacrificing his 20-year career with News International.