News International phone hacking scandal the new allegations, along with high-ranking officers of the Metropolitan Police Service. News International's legal manager Tom Crone left the company on 13 July. As part of his role at the publisher, Crone had served as the "News of the World" chief lawyer and gave evidence before parliamentary committees, that he had uncovered no evidence of phone hacking beyond the criminal offences committed by the royal editor Clive Goodman. He maintained that he did not see an internal report suggesting that phone hacking at the paper went beyond Goodman. On 15 July, Rebekah Brooks, the chief executive of News International,
News of the World royal phone hacking scandal executives in their defence during a parliamentary investigation into phone hacking in 2009. Chapman then wrote to News International chairman Les Hinton, that the company was likely to lose the case filed by Goodman, based on grounds of failing to follow specified contractual employment law procedure. This could result in a payment of £60,600 to Goodman, plus his notice period. Hinton hence authorised an out of court settlement to Goodman, covering the sum indicated by Chapman, plus Goodman's legal costs. After settlement of Goodman's case, a similar amount was authorised to Mulcaire after he also started legal action, again settled