Former Daily Mirror journalist James Hipwell testified that it is "very unlikely" that former Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan did not know about phone hacking that Hipwell said allegedly occurred at the tabloid.
Morgan testified before the Leveson Inquiry on press ethics on Tuesday. During his testimony, Morgan maintained that he had no direct involvement with phone hacking during his career, and was unaware of any phone hacking that occurred at the Daily Mirror. He said he grew aware of phone hacking in 2001, but never employed the practice. He also said that no one at the Daily Mirror has ever been accused of phone hacking.
On Wednesday, Hipwell contradicted parts of Morgan's testimony. Speaking of Morgan, Hipwell said "looking at his style of editorship, I would say that it was very unlikely that he did not know that [phone hacking] was going on. As I have said, there wasn't very much he didn't know about."
Hipwell referred to Morgan's Tuesday testimony, when he said that he took a "keen interest" in everything going on at the paper. However, Morgan also said in his testimony that the average editor was aware of about five percent of what his journalists were up to at any given moment.
Hipwell also said that he never saw phone hacking taking place in front of Morgan. He added that the practice was considered the "bog standard journalistic tool," and that he thought it seemed "entirely accepted" by senior editors.
Hipwell, who wrote the tabloid's "City Slickers" column, was jailed for two months in 2006 for insider trading. According to the BBC, he mentioned stocks in his column and subsequently sold them after the stock prices increased.
WATCH: (via Telegraph)