The Day of the Jackals, starring Perry Mason and Pontius Pilate

The Murdoch hunt is a smokescreen. Thanks to the Independent, we get another glimpse of the throng of whited sepulchres huddling together in the murk.

Newspapers and magazines also used the agency to illicitly obtain thousands of private telephone numbers, often including the details held by telephone companies under the category "Friends and Family". In total, the Whittamore files reference 17,489 orders from media organisations.

• Some 1,028 are in the so-called "blue book", which was essentially dedicated to News International. 

• The "red book" contained 6,774 jobs, most on behalf of Trinity Mirror titles.

• The "green book", which includes work from Associated Newspapers titles, Express Newspapers and some celebrity magazines, has 2,227 references. 

• And the "yellow book", which is miscellaneous, has 7,460 orders.

Of all these hacks, then, those employed by Murdoch's titles committed fewer child-murders engaged in fewer illicit practices than their competitors.

Thus the Murdoch-hunting party can be seen in context for what it is: a pack of hyenas turning on one of their own, hoping that the scent of its blood will draw in a pack of jackals to distract the bigger beasts, while they, having gorged on its lifeblood, slink back to their lairs.

The unfortunate impression that Tom Watson MP's Perry Mason turn is entirely politically motivated can now only be altered if he mounts an equally ferocious attack on Murdoch's competitors, perhaps starting with the slavishly Labour-supporting Mirror to demonstrate his impartiality as a tribune of the people. After all, Mr Watson is an honourable man.

Wash his hands as ostentatiously as he might, Pontius Pilate the Information Commissioner will have even more difficulty than Mr Watson in neutralising the stink accompanying his every word in this matter. He protests his well-meaning  impotence, as the lead investigator on the Motorman enquiry tells the Indy that his team was

forbidden from interviewing journalists who were paying for criminal records checks, vehicle registration searches, and other illegal practices.

Forbidden? By whom and why?

In a signed witness statement given to The Independent, Motorman's original lead investigator, a retired police inspector with 30 years' experience, accuses the authorities of serious failings, and of being too "frightened" to question journalists. 

"I feel the investigation should have been conducted a lot more vigorously, a lot more thoroughly and it may have revealed a lot more information," he said. "I was disappointed and somewhat disillusioned with the senior management ..."

Frightened? By whom and why?

The High Court has ruled that journalists are generally protected by freedom of information legislation except where national security concerns may override that protection. Does this ruling prevent journalists from being investigated for suspected crimes? Infringement of the Computer Misuse Act (amended) and corruption or encouraging the corruption of public officials including police officers are crimes.

I ask again, 'What stopped you from pursuing and prosecuting journalists on the Mirror, the Mail and the  Express, Mr Pilate Information Commissioner?'