December 2009
Press standards, privacy and libel - Culture, Media and Sport Committee
Committee question 1:
Are Ross Hindley and Ross Hall one and the same person?
Answer:
Yes
Committee question 2:
Can you confirm his birth name is in fact Ross Hall and his date of birth is 31 January 1981 (making him 28, not 20 as Tom Crone told us Q 1369).
Answer:
We have always understood his birth name to be Ross Hindley. Regarding his age, yes, that is his birthday. Mr Crone's answer was given in response to what seemed to be a provocative and inaccurate comment and question from Paul Farrelly. The context, seen on the film and transcript (relevant pages enclosed) shows he was doing his best to correct Mr Farrelly's inaccurate suggestion that Ross Hall "had to go to Peru" because he was "posted there" by News Group Newspapers Ltd Mr Crone did not know Ross Hall's exact age but understood him to be significantly younger than 28. He was trying to convey to Mr Farrelly that he was a very young man who had taken off to see the world and the exact answer he gave was "...He's 20 years old; he's got...however old he is...."—Mr Farrelly then interrupted with another question. Had Mr Crone been allowed to finish the answer, it might have been clear that he was not sure of the exact age.
Committee question 3:
Can you confirm that he is the same Ross Hindley, who is the nephew of former NotW editor Phil Hall, worked up to 2005 with the Romford Recorder and Ilford Recorder and was named Essex Young Journalist of the Year in 2004.
Answer:
Yes, he is Phil Hall's nephew. Since he was around 15-16 years of age he worked on the News of the World during school and college holidays and quite often on Saturdays. His role seemed to have been as a messenger or as the person who, late on Saturdays, stood in at the Editor's PA's desk to mind the phone after the Editor's PA left the office. We have no records of his other previous employment but understand he trained and worked for the Archant Group of newspapers in Essex for a while before coming full-time to the News of the World in 2005. We have (through Google) found a record of him being "highly commended" for Essex Young Journalist 2004 but not winning that award.
Committee question 4:
Can you confirm when he joined the staff of the NotW, that prior to 2005 he freelanced for NotW (and from when), and what his current employment position is (Tom Crone told us Hindley was then "in Peru" (Q 1364) and "on holiday" (Q1368)).
Answer:
Please see the previous answer. Our understanding is that Ross Hall is still on his travels. We have no knowledge whether he is currently employed.
Committee question 5:
Can you explain why he changed his name for bylines from Hindley, which he appears to have used in NotW up to September 2006, to Hall?
Answer:
We believe he took his mother's maiden name (Hall) after and because his parents separated.
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