Sir – So Christopher Gray wonders whether phone hacking has really harmed anyone (Gray Matter, July 3). Where has he been for the last few years?
The Leveson enquiry heard plenty of evidence, some of it from celebrities and some not, of the damaging effect it has had.
To take just one example: Mulcaire hacked Milly Dowler’s phone but failed to tell the police for 24 hours of the lead which suggested she might be alive.
The judge said rightly that this was unforgivable and that Coulson must have known about it.
There are other examples of the effect of phone hacking in the Leveson enquiry report and on the hacked off website.
Has all this really passed Christopher Gray by? Has he, a journalist, not noticed the biggest story about journalism for the last 30 years or so?
He seems to think that because in the 1980s he had a pleasant encounter with Andy Coulson that this excuses his conduct. It really is time he retired.
Stephen Barber, Carterton
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