Metropolitan Police role in the news media phone hacking scandal Prosecutions Ken Macdonald to review the emails newspaper executives had used as the basis of their claim that no one at "News of the World" but Clive Goodman had been involved in phone hacking. Macdonald immediately concluded there was evidence of criminal activity, including payments to serving police officers, leading the Met to open an investigation focused on bribery and corruption within its ranks. (See discussion of Operation Elveden, below.) On 4 July 2011, "The Guardian" published an article authored by Nick Davies and Amelia Hill titled "Missing Milly Dowler's voicemail was hacked by News of the World." This article
2009–2011 News of the World phone hacking scandal investigations editor Andy Coulson's alleged knowledge of it. The investigation also revealed that a journalist at the "News of the World" had been attempting to hack into the voicemail messages of a "television personality" in 2010. The journalist was suspended from reporting and faced legal action by the personality. The "Times" piece cited Sean Hoare, a former colleague, as saying that Coulson had "actively encouraged" phone hacking. Coulson denied the claims and indicated that he would allow himself to be questioned by the Metropolitan Police Service regarding the phone hacking affair. The Guardian's 2009 investigation led the Press Complaints Commission to