# RO: News of the World Paul McMullan admits to being scum **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 1, 2011, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-news-of-the-world-paul-mcmullan-admits-to-being-scum/604698 "2011-12-01T14:13:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-news-of-the-world-paul-mcmullan-admits-to-being-scum/604698/1 "2011-12-01T14:13:09Z")
Continuing on from this thread, former News of the World scumsucker Paul McMullan has testified before Parliament. Rather than me ranting about what an utter waste of skin he is, let’s let him demonstrate it himself. Here are some of the highlights: > [@](#): > > In 21 years of invading people’s privacy I’ve never actually come across anyone who’s been doing anything good.. Privacy is the space bad people need to do bad things in… **Privacy is for paedos; fundamentally nobody else needs it.** > [@](#): > > Circulation defines the public interest. > [@](#): > > I absolutely loved giving chase to celebrities. Before Diana died it was such good fun. How many jobs can you have car chases in? It was great. On Jennifer Elliot, actor Denholm Elliot’s daughter, who killed herself after McMullan wrote a series of pieces claiming she was living on the street and taking drugs: > [@](#): > > I went too far on that story. It was someone crying out for help, not crying out to meet a News of the World reporter. I said if I gave you £50 would you come back to my house and have sex for £50 and she went ‘oh, yeah, alright’. > > ..And it gets worse.. I then took her back to her flat and took a load of pictures of her topless it turns out. I think she was obviously in the grip of an addiction and when she went on GMTV the following morning she described me as her boyfriend. I had befriended her.. I didn’t actually really want to help her but I was driven primarily to write the best story I could. When asked if his editors knew that mobile phone messages were being intercepted: > [@](#): > > Yes.. I could go a bit further than that. We did all these things for our editors, for Rebekah Brooks and for Andy Coulson.. It was that blatant and obvious that I don’t think anyone realised that anyone was committing a crime at the start. > > …Andy Coulson brought that practice wholesale with him when he was made deputy editor.. They should ahve had the strength of their conviction to say that yes, sometimes, you have to enter into a grey area or a black illegal area.. and we asked our reporters to do these things. > > …They’re the scum of journalism for trying to drop me and my colleagues in it. > [@](#): > > My understanding of it was that it wasn’t actually illegal.. Do we really want to live in a world where MI5 and MI6 are the only ones who can hack?..For a brief period we lived in a free world where we could hack back. > [@](#): > > I felt slightly proud that I’d written something that had created a riot and got a paediatrician beaten up. Helluva guy, Mr McMullan. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-news-of-the-world-paul-mcmullan-admits-to-being-scum/604698/2 "2011-12-01T14:20:03Z")
Sorry - “this thread” should have been a link to [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=615018). ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-news-of-the-world-paul-mcmullan-admits-to-being-scum/604698/3 "2011-12-01T14:22:15Z")
[Luigi] Yeah, you see how you scum. [/Luigi] ---
**Author:** ![Sri\_Theo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Sri\_Theo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sri_Theo)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-news-of-the-world-paul-mcmullan-admits-to-being-scum/604698/4 "2011-12-01T21:43:59Z")
That was some of the most gob-smacking testimony I’ve seen in my life - he had to be reminded a couple of times not to incriminate himself! ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-news-of-the-world-paul-mcmullan-admits-to-being-scum/604698/5 "2011-12-01T21:53:31Z")
Now \*\*that \*\*is weapons-grade assholery. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-news-of-the-world-paul-mcmullan-admits-to-being-scum/604698/6 "2011-12-01T23:22:45Z")
> [@Sri\_Theo](#): > > That was some of the most gob-smacking testimony I’ve seen in my life - he had to be reminded a couple of times not to incriminate himself! I’m not sure why. If the man wants to incriminate himself, let him. It’s a free country, and only paedos need to worry about self-incrimination. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-news-of-the-world-paul-mcmullan-admits-to-being-scum/604698/7 "2011-12-02T13:39:55Z")
I am hoping he was under the influence. Although I find it kinda refreshing that somebody can be so open and proud about their utter assholery. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-news-of-the-world-paul-mcmullan-admits-to-being-scum/604698/8 "2011-12-02T15:09:36Z")
> [@Mighty\_Girl](#): > > I am hoping he was under the influence. Although I find it kinda refreshing that somebody can be so open and proud about their utter assholery. Yea. After all the “mistakes were made” apologies by people in the public sphere, its kinda refreshing to see someone that not only owns up to what they did, but tells the world that if they don’t like it, they can get bent. I mean, I still hope he goes to jail, but its nice to see that he’s going there in style. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-news-of-the-world-paul-mcmullan-admits-to-being-scum/604698/9 "2011-12-02T15:23:15Z")
A “Piers Morgan” of the first class. I’ve seen him speak before and I’m not entirely sure he is the full shilling these days. His total unabashed arse-holery must have an element of either self-promotion, self-delusion or sociopathy. Or maybe all three? perhaps that is the personality profile you need to be a tabloid scum-hack-twat these days. ---
**Author:** ![Cumbrian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@Cumbrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumbrian)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-news-of-the-world-paul-mcmullan-admits-to-being-scum/604698/10 "2011-12-02T15:37:19Z")
I think he’s looking to cash out but he’s playing a dangerous game to do it. Presumably there is a statute of limitations on anything that he did that might be illegal. The guy currently runs a pub, so is able to keep his wages going. So long as he can avoid jail for the requisite length of time, he could write a book on this and probably make some money - “How To Have No Friends and Generally Fuck People Over” or something. The dumbest thing is that, in setting himself up as the type of guy who might well be able to write the UK Journalism equivalent of Motley Crue’s “The Dirt”, he’s sailing pretty close to being convicted. I don’t really care one way or another what happens to him - but I suspect that these are his motivations. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-news-of-the-world-paul-mcmullan-admits-to-being-scum/604698/11 "2011-12-03T20:45:54Z")
> [@Cumbrian](#): > > he’s playing a dangerous game to do it. Hopefully so. Although not as loathsome as the Murdochs, Wade, et al McMullan is the sort of twat who would be massively improved by serious head trauma. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-news-of-the-world-paul-mcmullan-admits-to-being-scum/604698/12 "2011-12-04T01:12:17Z")
Watching the testimony I kept being distracted by the nasy looking[scars](http://img.ibtimes.com/www/data/images/full/2011/11/29/197187-paul-mcmullan.jpg)under his right eye. In the picture I’ve linked to they look more like a (perhaps partially lasered off) birthmark but I’d like to think they represent a painful injury. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-news-of-the-world-paul-mcmullan-admits-to-being-scum/604698/13 "2011-12-04T01:31:35Z")
I think he’s a psychopath of the non-violent type. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-news-of-the-world-paul-mcmullan-admits-to-being-scum/604698/14 "2011-12-04T17:19:08Z")
> [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](#): > > Watching the testimony I kept being distracted by the nasy looking[scars](http://img.ibtimes.com/www/data/images/full/2011/11/29/197187-paul-mcmullan.jpg)under his right eye. In the picture I’ve linked to they look more like a (perhaps partially lasered off) birthmark but I’d like to think they represent a painful injury. I’m not a violent man and I wouldn’t condone any physical harm…but… I’d like to think that he sustained those injuries after an attack by Hugh Grant. In the style of Daniel Cleaver (Bridget Jones). i.e. an attack so inept that he is unlikely to be seriously harmed but ends up humiliated because he is beaten by such ineptitude. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-news-of-the-world-paul-mcmullan-admits-to-being-scum/604698/15 "2011-12-05T10:31:39Z")
When he appeared on Newsnight, Emily Maitliss summed him up very neatly: “Paul, you seem to have a tarnished soul.” Although now I might go as far as “corroded”. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-news-of-the-world-paul-mcmullan-admits-to-being-scum/604698/16 "2011-12-05T14:12:47Z")
That guys testimony left me stunned. He was okay with some crowd beating up a paedatrician due to his story? I can’t go further without invoking Godwin… ---
**Author:** ![Sri\_Theo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Sri\_Theo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sri_Theo)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-news-of-the-world-paul-mcmullan-admits-to-being-scum/604698/17 "2011-12-05T14:48:34Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > That guys testimony left me stunned. > > He was okay with some crowd beating up a paedatrician due to his story? > > I can’t go further without invoking Godwin… It was the “Privacy is for Paedo’s” that did it for me. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-news-of-the-world-paul-mcmullan-admits-to-being-scum/604698/18 "2011-12-05T16:43:02Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > That guys testimony left me stunned. > > He was okay with some crowd beating up a paedatrician due to his story? > > I can’t go further without invoking Godwin… One reason he might be OK with it is because it never happened. It’s self-mythologising by the tabloids, to convince themselves they’re powerful beyond the comprehension of man and therefore too big to mess with. [What actually happened](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/901723.stm) is that a paediatrician found the word ‘paedo’ graffitied on her door and moved in with friends while it was cleaned off. There was no crowd, there was no beating. It’s only supposition that the vandal knew what her job was. It’s only supposition that the vandal was in any way motivated by the current NotW campaign to name and shame paedophiles. But hey, it makes a good story, right? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-news-of-the-world-paul-mcmullan-admits-to-being-scum/604698/19 "2011-12-06T11:17:24Z")
You mean McMullan was lying? How odd in a man of otherwise impeccable character. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-news-of-the-world-paul-mcmullan-admits-to-being-scum/604698/20 "2011-12-06T11:27:46Z")
Hey, did people like the story? Did they retell it to their friends? Did it briefly distract them from their humdrum lives? Crucially, will they pay money to be told that story or others like it again? Well then! This “truth and lies” fetish is all very well, but it’s hardly _commercial_. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-news-of-the-world-paul-mcmullan-admits-to-being-scum/604698.md?page=2)