I stand by my evidence - ex-editor

Former News of the World editor Colin Myler said he "stands by" his evidence after he was accused of misleading MPs.

The Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee concluded that Mr Myler misled it over his knowledge of how widespread phone-hacking was at the now-defunct Sunday tabloid.

Mr Myler was brought in as News of the World editor after Andy Coulson resigned in January 2007 following the jailing of the paper's royal editor Clive Goodman for intercepting the voicemails of royal aides.

Mr Myler, who is now editor of the New York Daily News, said in a statement: "While I respect the work that the Select Committee has carried out, I stand by the evidence that I gave the committee.

"I have always sought to be accurate and consistent in what I have said to the committee.

"The conclusions of the committee have, perhaps inevitably, been affected by the fragmented picture which has emerged from the various witnesses over successive appearances and by the constraints within which the committee had to conduct its procedure.

"These issues remain the subject of a police investigation and the Leveson judicial inquiry and I have every confidence that they will establish the truth in the fullness of time."

Mr Myler and former News of the World legal manager Tom Crone told the committee they informed James Murdoch at a June 2008 meeting of the significance of the "For Neville" email, which apparently revealed that phone-hacking was widespread.

But Mr Murdoch said he only learned in late 2010 of "critical new facts" proving that the practice of illegally eavesdropping on private voicemail messages went beyond a single "rogue reporter".

Mr Myler told the Leveson Inquiry in December that he feared there were "bombs under the newsroom floor" at the News of the World in the form of a history of illegal practices.

He said he felt "discomfort" over the extent of phone-hacking among the paper's journalists, but added: "Trying to get the evidence or establishing the evidence that sadly the police already had was another matter."

Mr Myler stressed he did not believe phone hacking went on at the News of the World while he was editor.

Meanwhile, former News International executive chairman Les Hinton said he was "shocked and disappointed" by MPs' claims that he misled Parliament and was "complicit" in a cover-up of phone hacking.

Mr Hinton rejected the allegations and said the committee's conclusions about him were "unfounded, unfair and erroneous".

The veteran executive at Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation resigned as chief executive of Dow Jones, publisher of the Wall Street Journal, at the height of the public furore over phone hacking last July.

Mr Hinton, who headed News International from 1995 to 2007, said in a statement: "I am shocked and disappointed by the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee's allegations that I have misled Parliament and was 'complicit' in a cover-up.

"I refute these accusations utterly. I have always been truthful in my dealings with the committee and its findings are unfounded, unfair and erroneous.

"To be clear, not once in my testimony before the committee did I seek to mislead it or pass blame for decisions to others. Nor did I participate in a 'cover-up'.

"Furthermore, there is nothing in my evidence to support the committee's findings that I did.

"I will be writing to John Whittingdale, the chair of the committee, to object formally."