News International "deliberately" tried to block the Metropolitan Police investigation into phone hacking at the News of the World, a parliamentary committee has said in a report.
In the damning report, which accused Scotland Yard of "a catalogue of failures", the committee said that police failed to look at evidence that could have identified further phone hacking victims. There was "no real will" by the police to overcome News International's "deliberate attempts... to thwart the various investigations", it said.
It added that John Yates, the former assistant commissioner of the Met who gave evidence to the committee yesterday, made a "serious misjudgement" in deciding in 2009 not to reopen the investigation.
The report was also critical of Andy Hayman, who led the phone hacking investigation, and said that he was "both unprofessional and inappropriate".
Dick Fedorcio, Scotland Yard's current communications chief who gave evidence yesterday, also came under fire for not showing "due diligence" when checking that Neil Wallis, the former News of the World deputy editor who was arrested last week, was hired as a press adviser. The committee was "particularly shocked" by Fedorcio's attempt to blame Yates for his own failures.
The report also warned that unless the new police investigation currently underway has more staff it could be up to a decade before all of the victims of phone hacking are contacted and all of the evidence examined.
Committee Chair Right Hon Keith Vaz MP said:
"There has been a catalogue of failures by the Metropolitan Police, and deliberate attempts by News International to thwart the various investigations.
"Police and prosecutors have been arguing over the interpretation of the law. The new inquiry requires additional resources and if these are not forthcoming, it will take years to inform all the potential victims. The victims of hacking should have come first and I am shocked that this has not happened."
The Home Affairs select committee, which only finished hearing evidence late Tuesday evening, published its report on Wednesday morning, just hours before Prime Minister David Cameron is due to address parliament on the crisis.
The leader is expecting to face questions about his party's links to former executives at News of The World, after reports suggested that former deputy editor Neil Wallis, who later became a PR consultant for the Met, may have advised Cameron's spin doctor.