MPs set to publish phone-hacking report

The parliamentary committee tasked with investigating the phone-hacking scandal at the defunct News of the World will reveal their conclusions this morning.

It is thought that the report from the cross-party group of MPs will "formally criticise" James Murdoch according to the Guardian, which has spoken to "a source close to the process".

The paper says the committee's assessment of his conduct is expected "to fall just short of accusing the former chairman of News International of misleading parliament about the extent of his knowledge of the affair".

The Guardian says the report will "reserve some of its strongest condemnation for James Murdoch's predecessor in the role, Les Hinton, who has appeared before the committee three times over the past five years".

Reportedly the committee will also criticise former News of the World editor Colin Myler and Tom Crone, the newspaper's former legal head.

Journalists will gather behind closed doors this morning to access the report, with an embargo lifting at 11:30am.

Since beginning its inquiry in July 2011 in the wake of revelations into the hacking of the phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler and the families of victims of the 7/7 attacks, the Select Committee has heard from a number of current and former senior News International executives as part of its investigation, including James and Rupert Murdoch, former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks, Myler and Crone.

Last month James Murdoch submitted a seven-page letter in which he apologised that "a full investigation into the facts" was not carried out by News International in response to the committee's 2010 report.

Murdoch, who is now deputy chief operating officer at News Corporation, also said in the letter that he stands by his previous testimony that he "did not know about, nor did I try to hide wrongdoing".

But he added "with the benefit of hindsight" he does acknowledge "that it would have been better if I had asked more questions, requested more documents and scrutinised them carefully."

Rupert Murdoch described his appearance as "the most humble day of my career" and used his appearance to apologise to victims of phone hacking.

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