Police are investigating claims that News International deleted millions of emails from an internal archive in an apparent attempt to obstruct a police inquiry.

All this came as the Prime Minister made the extraordinary suggestion that Mr Murdoch’s son and heir apparent James had ‘questions to answer’ to police after admitting paying hush money to victims of hacking by the News of the World.


Murdoch HQ: Investigations are underway to find out if an executive deleted millions of emails

In his most difficult day since becoming Conservative leader, Mr Cameron repeatedly refused to apologise for hiring as his media chief ex-News of the World editor Andy Coulson, who was arrested yesterday and held for ten hours.

The Prime Minister admitted he, as well as other political leaders, had been wrong to spend years courting the Murdoch empire – and turned on his horse-riding companion and Oxfordshire neighbour Rebekah Brooks, the media group’s UK boss.

 

The worst is yet to come, Brooks tells journalists as they ask searching questions about paper's demise
BSkyB shares slump as Ofcom warns it is now monitoring News Corporation 'very closely'
Cameron can't be allowed to shackle the Press
Police raid house of Cameron's ex-aide and former News of the World editor Andy Coulson after he and former royal editor are arrested
Coulson's 10-hour grilling by hacking probe detectives as David Cameron says: 'I was right to hire him'
He said Mrs Brooks, editor of the News of the World at the time it is accused of hacking mobile phone messages of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, should go.

‘It has been reported that she offered her resignation over this and in this situation I would have taken it,’ the Prime Minister said.


Under pressure: Murdoch's empire is slowly faltering and the Prime Minister has turned his back on Rebekah Brooks

In further dramatic developments:

Media watchdog Ofcom said it was ‘deeply concerned’ and investigating whether News Corporation would be a ‘fit and proper’ owner of broadcaster BSkyB, which saw £1billion wiped off its value as investors took fright;
Two independent inquiries were announced into press ethics and regulation and the phone hacking scandal;
Police arrested former News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman, jailed over the original hacking investigation in 2006, and raided the offices of the Daily Star Sunday where he now works;
Mrs Brooks, who was removed from an internal investigation but clung desperately to her job, told staff that much more damaging revelations were to come in the hacking scandal;
Ed Miliband was dragged into the row as he faced questions over the conduct of his own spin chief, former News International journalist Tom Baldwin.
Mr Murdoch’s decision to close the News of the World in an attempt to save his bid to seize full control of BSkyB appears to have done little to stem the tide of allegations engulfing his empire.

Police are examining claims that a News International executive may have expunged millions of emails from an archive believed to date back to 2005.

The Guardian reported that ‘massive quantities’ of the archive appear to have been deleted on two separate occasions, the most recent in January of this year.

It also claimed the newspaper tried to hide the contents of a senior reporter’s desk after he was arrested in April.

If proven, the acts would appear directly to contradict claims from News International that it has been co-operating fully with police.

They could also be seized upon by Ofcom as it assesses whether the company can pass a ‘fit and proper person’ test for its proposed purchase of BSkyB.

Mr Cameron upped the pressure on the company by suggesting James Murdoch, chairman of News International, has questions to answer from the police over his role in the phone hacking affair and subsequent cover-up.

In an email to staff announcing that Sunday’s edition of the News of the World will be the last, Mr Murdoch admitted approving ‘out-of-court settlements’ to alleged victims of phone hacking, adding: ‘This was wrong and is a matter of serious regret.’ The Prime Minister suggested it might, in fact, be a matter of interest to police.

‘I read the statement yesterday. I think it raises lots of questions that need to be answered.’

Mr Cameron said he took responsibility for hiring Andy Coulson, but surprised some colleagues by repeatedly refusing to distance himself from his former spin chief, who resigned from Number Ten in January.

‘Yes, he became a friend and is a friend,’ he said. I have spoken to him, I have seen him, not recently and not frequently.’

Mr Cameron said he had discussed the hacking allegations with Mr Coulson on several occasions, but never had reason to doubt ‘the assurances he had given me and I accepted’.

The Prime Minister said the wave of allegations about hacking of the families of murder victims and servicemen killed in action by journalists at the News of the World ‘and possibly elsewhere’ was a ‘wake-up call’.

‘The truth is, we have all been in this together – the press, politicians and leaders of all parties – and yes, that includes me.’

News International denied claims that police are investigating suspected deletion of emails by an executive at the company.

A News International spokeswoman said: 'This assertion is rubbish. We adopted a documented email retention policy in line with our US parent’s records management policy. We are co-operating actively with police and have not destroyed evidence.'

PM DEMANDS INDEPENDENT WATCHDOG
David Cameron opened the way yesterday for unprecedented restrictions on press freedom -- saying all party leaders had 'turned a blind eye' to the issue for too long because they wanted to win media support.

The Prime Minister rounded on the Press Complaints Commission, suggesting self-regulation had failed and there was a need for a 'new system entirely'.

He announced an independent inquiry into press ethics and regulation, which is expected to begin this summer.

It will be conducted by a team of experts in the media, law and regulation, and will also examine relationships between senior politicians and newspaper editors and proprietors.

But Mr Cameron appeared to pre-empt its conclusions by saying it would have to draw up plans for a powerful, independent media regulator.

A separate inquiry, into specific allegations of phone hacking and the conduct of police, will be judge-led, but will not start work in earnest until criminal inquiries are complete.

The freedom of the press has been enshrined in Britain since 1694, when a system which meant no publication was allowed without the accompaniment of a government-granted licence was brought to a end.

The Press Complaints Commission has 17 members, of whom ten do not work in the press.

Mr Cameron declared: 'When the inquiries are over, the questions have been asked, and the truth found out I want a police that has proved itself beyond reproach, a political system that people feel is on their side, and a press that is yes, free and rigorous; that investigates and entertains; that holds those in power to account and occasionally -- yes, even regularly -- drives them mad, but, in the end, is a free press that is also clean and trustworthy.'

Bob Satchwell, executive director of the Society of Editors, said the idea that the scandal had demonstrated a failure of ethics across the industry was 'total nonsense'.

And he said the PCC, like Mr Cameron, had been entitled to believe that the original police inquiry had dealt with the situation thoroughly after the convictions of private investigator Glenn Mulcaire and former News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman.

'This story is not about media ethics, it's about crime. Phone-hacking is against the law. What's absolutely clear now is that the police didn't look at all the evidence. If they had, the PCC might have come to a different view and taken a tougher stance against the News of the World.

Hugh Grant, in his time, has played many parts. He has been the diffident, floppy-haired charmer in Four Weddings And A Funeral; he's been the caddish lothario in the Bridget Jones movies and the troubled quasi-dad in Nick Hornby's About A Boy. Off-screen, he's been the sheepish bad boy caught in flagrante by the roadside in LA, but also the brilliant investor in property and contemporary art.

But now he's found what could be his greatest role. On BBC TV's Question Time, he was the campaigner for decent values and fearless scourge of the slimy News Corporation which hacked into people's phones and sacrificed 200 jobs to protect Rebekah Brooks. It was a magnificent performance – and TV watchers all over the country remembered why they loved Hugh Grant.

With elegance, with insouciance, Grant dismissed the whingey complaints from fellow panellist, Sun columnist Jon Gaunt. He suavely batted away jibes about blow jobs. He called Rupert Murdoch's act of corporate self-mutilation "cynical" and the studio audience applauded.

The Daily Mail columnist Jan Moir has jeered at "St Hugh of Grant", and Piers Morgan – a man whose moral compass directs him unerringly to that side of the bread where the butter is to be found – tweeted that Grant was "a screechy, sanctimonious little prick". He found himself un-followed in droves. Morgan discovered that people supported Grant. And they wondered if being screechy and sanctimonious was a wise subject for Morgan to be talking about.

Grant had already shown remarkable flair and boldness in uncovering hacking, making secret tape recordings for the New Statesman. His detestation for the tabs and the paps is well known, and has occasionally sounded petulant on the subject. But the Hacked Off campaign had brought out in him a new authority: in interviews, he has even, emolliently, conceded that the general public were not too sympathetic about publicity-hungry celebs getting hacked, but Milly Dowler was a different matter entirely.

How has Grant emerged as the scourge of News International? I think it is because he, unlike everyone else, really doesn't care about the whole silly showbiz carousel and could step off any time he liked. Perhaps that is what he is doing now. Very often he had given the impression that he wouldn't be fussed if he never made another movie ever again. Plenty of stars hate Murdoch's papers, but they want to appear in movies made by Murdoch's Fox group, and to work with people who are similarly in awe of the great potentate's tentacular reach.

Grant is different. He is now rich and successful enough – and perhaps simply unconcerned enough – not to care. He is the unruffled David Gower of the cinema – and campaigning. And his new role as the Hammer Of Rupe is just so unlikely that it commands attention.

This is a great new career direction for him. I say: bravo Hugh!

Prince Harry's new girlfriend Florence Brudenell-Bruce has told friends "I'm in love", according to the Sun.
The 25-year-old model, known as Flee, reportedly told a friend: "It was a bit of fun but it's getting serious. I think I might be in love!"
Harry and Flee have known each other for six years, the newspaper revealed, but she apparently fell for him after he used a polo-related chat-up line.
Referencing the term used for practicing the sport he and his brother Prince William play, he is said to have asked her: "Fancy a spot of stick and balling with me?"
Ms Brudenell-Bruce dated 2009 Formula One champion Jenson Button before reportedly falling for the prince.
A close friend told the Sun that Flee loves being Harry's girlfriend and has "fallen for him fast".
"She's a party girl and Harry loves her wild side," the source continued. " Ibiza is one of her favourite holiday spots and she's always in the Blue Marlin beach bar. She's trying to get Harry to go."

The divorce will mark the end of the couple's 25-year marriage
Maria Shriver cited irreconcilable differences for the breakup with the Terminator star, but offered no additional details.
The couple announced they had separated on May 9.
A week later, the Austrian-born former action star and ex-California governor admitted he fathered a child with Mildred Baena, a member of his household staff, years ago.

The Terminator star admitted he fathered a child with a member of household staff
Shriver's filing does state that the couple has a prenuptial agreement, which is likely to mean that Schwarzenegger's Hollywood career earnings will be evenly divided with his estranged wife.
She is seeking maintenance from him with the amount to be determined through a settlement agreement or by a judge, but details of the the divorce are expected to be handled in private.
Several of Schwarzenegger's biggest hits, including Predator, True Lies and the blockbuster sequel Terminator 2 were made during his marriage to Shriver.

Schwarzenegger's Hollywood earnings are likey to be split
Shriver was an award-winning television journalist but put her career on hold when Schwarzenegger ran for governor.
When Schwarzenegger left as California governor in January, disclosure forms showed he had at least eight interests worth $1m (£622,000) or more, although the full extent of his wealth is not known.
The forms also show that the Terminator star still retains rights to intellectual property from his days as a fitness guru and movie star.
Shriver's holdings are listed as being worth more than $1m; she is a member of the Kennedy family and is a beneficiary of some of its assets, and also owns rights and royalties from her work as an author.

Maria Shriver stood by her husband during his campaign for governor
In recent months, Shriver has appeared in videos posted on YouTube in which she talks about stress in her life, the weight of expectations and the search for faith in a troubled world.
She signed her divorce petition around two weeks ago, but her attorney filed it on Friday afternoon.
Shriver and Schwarzenegger were married in 1986 and have four children together, including two sons who are still minors.
Shriver's petition seeks joint custody of the teens, who are 17 and 13.

Arnold Schwarzenegger during his time as California' governor
She stood by her husband as he ran for California's governorship in 2003, despite reports by several women that they had been groped by the movie star.
Schwarzenegger, who later admitted he "behaved badly sometimes," was twice elected to the governorship.
He failed to fix the state's chronic budget problems and left office in January, hoping to work on environmental projects and return to the big screen.
One of his projects was an animated collaboration with comic book legend Stan Lee entitled The Governator, but the project was shelved after Schwarzenegger's admission that he had fathered the child.

when Heidi Withers received a vitriolic email apparently from her fiancé’s step-mother, accusing her of a lack of manners, it was clear she had not got off on the right foot.
Unfortunately things got a great deal worse when she forwarded the stern email to some of friends - who astonished by its tone - decided to give it a wider audience.
In no time at all the email had gone viral, becoming an internet sensation, and reaching tens of thousands of readers.
Problems began when Miss Withers, 28, a PA, who lives with her fiancé Freddie Bourne in Fulham, west London, visited his parents at their home in Dawlish, Devon.
Following the visit, Freddie’s step-mother, Carolyn Bourne, 60, a celebrated flower breeder, apparently fired off an email to her future daughter-in-law accusing her of being uncouth, rude and graceless.

The email said: “It is high time someone explained to you about good manners. Yours are obvious by their absence and I feel sorry for you.
It went on: “Your behaviour on your visit to Devon during April was staggering in its uncouthness and lack of grace.”
It added: “If you want to be accepted by the wider Bourne family I suggest you take some guidance from experts with utmost haste. There are plenty of finishing schools around. You would be an ideal candidate for the Ladette to Lady television series. Please, for your own good, for Freddie’s sake and for your future involvement with the Bourne family, do something as soon as possible.”
The email said Miss Withers’ behaviour had been so rude that it had left the family dog, Bomber, traumatized, depressed and anxious.
Listing a litany of alleged transgressions, the email accused Miss Withers of staying in bed too late; complaining about the food; cracking inappropriate jokes about the family and failing to send a card thanking them for their hospitality.
It also said: "You regularly draw attention to yourself. Perhaps you should ask yourself why...It is vulgar.”
In addition Mrs Bourne apparently criticised her future daughter-in-law’s plans for the wedding and said her aspirations were outstripping her finances.
The email said: “No one gets married in a castle unless they own it. It is brash, celebrity style behaviour.
“I understand your parents are unable to contribute very much towards the cost of your wedding. (There is nothing wrong with that...)
“If this is the case, it would be most ladylike and gracious to lower your sights and have a modest wedding as befits both your incomes.”
And in a stinging pay-off she apparently remarked: “One could be accused of thinking that Heidi Withers must be patting herself on the back for having caught a most eligible young man. I pity Freddie.”
Mr Bourne, 29, who runs an online bicycle shop, Capital Cycles, refused to comment on the email last night but conceded the matter had been discussed within the family.
He said: “Obviously this has been discussed within the family but we are not commenting other than that.”
Mr Bourne would not comment on whether the wedding was still going ahead.
Meanwhile Mrs Bourne, who runs Whetman Pinks Ltd nursery near Dawlish in Devon, also refused to be drawn on the content of the stinging email.
Yesterday she was attending a Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) plant show at Stonleigh Park, Coventry, with her husband Edward.
Mr Bourne said: “We are aware of what is being said. I know it is very boring, very repetitive and very dull but we will not be making any comment and neither will my wife.”
Miss Withers, who has a 23-year-old sister, September, was keeping a low profile last night and there was no sign of her at the flat she shares with her fiancé.
Her parents, Alan and Sylvia, who live in Ledbury, Herefordshire, were also not available for comment last night.
Miss Withers and Mr Bourne have been together for several years and enjoyed an extensive trip across the United States in 2009.
This is the latest example of an email that has caused embarrassment after going viral.
In 2009, Holly Leam-Taylor, a graduate trainee at consultants Deloitte quit after emails she sent to friends discussing attractive male staff, spread like wildfire across the internet.

The male water boatman hits 99.2 decibels – equivalent to hearing an orchestra from the front row – as it belts out its mating call.

The two-milimetre insect creates the sound by rubbing its penis against its abdomen – making it the noisiest species relative to its size.


Researchers from University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, recorded the sound using underwater microphones.

Dr James Windmill said: “It’s so loud, a person walking along the bank can hear these tiny creatures singing from the river bottom.

“If you scale the sound against their body size, they are the loudest on Earth.”

The study was published in the journal PLoS One.

Tony Blair believed that the Prince of Wales publicly interfered in sensitive areas of government policy in a manner that sometimes stepped over the constitutional boundaries historically respected by the royal family, according to Alastair Campbell.

In extracts from the latest volume of his diaries, published in the Guardian today and on Monday, the former No 10 communications director writes that Blair became so exasperated he once privately accused the prince of "screwing us".

Campbell, a teetotaller, also discloses in today's extracts that the pressure of working in Downing Street became so great that he started drinking again around the turn of the millennium. He never told Blair.

He also reveals that George Bush said in July 2001 that Vladimir Putin had "looked a bit scared" when he accused the then Russian president of selling more than conventional weapons to rogue states.

The main focus of today's extracts confirms what ministers across the spectrum have long complained of in private: the Prince of Wales regularly attempts to influence government policy, usually in long handwritten letters.

In the most detailed account of the prince's interventions, Campbell suggests that the heir to the throne even displayed signs of disapproving of the government. Campbell indicates that at one point Blair raised his concerns with the Queen.

"While publicly we stayed supportive, TB said Charles had to understand there were limits to the extent to which they could play politics with him," Campbell wrote on 31 October 1999 of a meeting between Blair and the prince after he took Prince William on a provocative day's foxhunting. "He said it was 90 minutes of pretty hard talk, not just about hunting."

Campbell writes that Blair, who was not invited to the royal wedding, became angry when the prince:

• Made "deeply unhelpful" interventions during the foot and mouth crisis in 2001. Campbell wrote on 16 March 2001: "TB said he knew exactly what he was doing. He also asked whether Charles had ever considered help when 6,000 jobs were lost at Corus [the steel manufacturer]. He said this was all about screwing us and trying to get up the message that we weren't generous enough to the farmers."

• Boycotted a banquet in 1999 for Jiang Zemin, then president of China, a decision criticised by Blair as "silly". In a long paper to Blair the prince wrote: "I feel very strongly about it."

• Challenged Blair on plans to outlaw foxhunting. In what Campbell described as a "long note on hunting" in late 1999, the prince said it was good for the environment.

• Declared in the same note that hereditary peers, the majority of whom were abolished by Labour in 1999, had much to offer. Campbell wrote that the prince had said "menacingly": "We don't really want to be like the continentals, now do we?"

• Insisted that he had to speak out about GM foods after Downing Street had made clear its unhappiness with what Campbell describes as a "dreadful" Mail on Sunday article. In the same note to Blair the prince wrote: "I cannot stay silent."

Campbell said Blair was furious with the prince's Mail on Sunday article in May 1999. "He was pretty wound up about it, said it was a straightforward anti-science position, the same argument that says if God intended us to fly, he would have given us wings. It certainly had a feel of grandstanding."

Campbell writes that Blair thought the prince had a political agenda because he was upset by the former prime minister's speech to the Labour conference in October 1999 in which he attacked the "forces of conservatism". He wrote on 1 November 1999: "TB said he bought the line that because we were modernising, that meant we were determined to do away with all traditions but he had to understand that some traditions that did not change and evolve would die. It all had the feel of a deliberate strategy, to win and strengthen media support by putting himself at arm's length from TB and a lot of the changes we were making."

Campbell added: "TB felt he had been really stung by the forces of conservatism speech. He said they felt much more vulnerable than in reality they are. We know they still have the power to 'keep us in our place' but they don't always see it like that."

Blair even appeared to have raised his concerns with the Queen. On 1 June 1999, shortly after publication of the prince's article, Campbell wrote: "TB saw the Queen and seemingly didn't push too hard re Charles, but he was very pissed off."

Campbell said last night that the anger in the Blair team was mainly caused by the prince's media operation under Mark Bolland, his deputy private secretary between 1997 and 2002. Matters improved when Paddy Harverson, the prince's head of communications, joined his team in 2004.

Campbell told the Guardian: "Tony Blair valued their regular private conversations and respects Prince Charles's right to speak up on important issues. But this was a period when it seemed Charles's media team was proactively and publicly setting them at odds on some of the government's most difficult issues – not just hunting, where the differences were well known, but GM food, China, and agriculture.

"When Paddy Harverson [Bolland's successor] came in, things improved greatly. It might seem ironic me complaining about the media operation but just as I felt Charlie Whelan gave Gordon Brown problems so I thought the same of Mark Bolland at times for the Prince of Wales."

Clarence House declined to comment.

Letters and files obtained by the Daily Telegraph reveal the key role played by current shadow chancellor Ed Balls in Gordon Brown's attempts to overthrow the then-prime minister.
The reports also allude to a wider group - including current Labour leader Ed Miliband and shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander - preparing the ground for the transition between Mr Blair and Mr Brown, starting within weeks of the 2005 general election. The move was dubbed Project Volvo.
The language of the memos Mr Brown sent Mr Balls and others is startling.
"This is a government not presidency," he wrote in the autumn.
"Restoration of constitution and of trust. Leadership that gets on with the job... Trust depends on proper relationship between executive legislature and civil service, Labour the champion of the constitution... Need to redefine politics from spin/calculation/manoeuvre... No presidentialism."
Later, he wrote to Mr Balls: "If we are to renew Labour, we will have to be as rigorous and brutal as we were in the creation of new Labour."
Mr Brown took to passing on highly confidential notes between Mr Blair and himself to Mr Balls, who was long considered his right-hand man, in the wake of the election.
By February 2006 Mr Blair was seeking to make a deal with Mr Brown to organise an orderly transition.
"You (understandably) want me to go now," Mr Blair wrote.
"You need to be the candidate of continuity and change. The second will be relatively easy to do. A different person is, by its nature, change.
"The first, however, rests on a smooth transition. Critical to that is not merely the absence of disunity in the handover; it is also the visible, clear demonstration that the person who most embodies NL [New Labour], ie: me, is working hand in hand with the successor."
The letter goes on to suggest several policy areas in which Mr Brown can take a front-stage role, including counter-terrorism and democratic renewal - an area he was to sieze on years later during his time in Number Ten.
In return, Mr Blair wanted cooperation on his main policy areas, including NHS reform, education and the 'respect' agenda.
"Whilst I remain PM, the final decision has to be mine; and that cannot provoke a breakdown. I will try, at all costs, to avoid disagreement, but there can't be stalemate if it happens," he warns.
The letter was then passed on to Mr Balls from Mr Brownb's office, with the then-chancellor scribbling the words "shallow", "inconsistent" and "muddled" on it.
A subsequent deal document, proposed by Mr Brown lay out the need for six-month, 12-month and two-year strategic plans, a role for him in future Cabinet reshuffles and his attendance at international meetings.
Mr Brown wrote: "I propose the following: across a wide range of areas you [Brown] are put in charge of future working groups beyond economic policy so that Labour with you leading is seen as party able to meet big challenges of future.
"You [Brown] will however set out with my full support and that of my team, the agenda for beyond 2007 and for the next parliament."
The deal fell apart, apparently because of Mr Blair's irritation with Mr Balls.
While the files mention Mr Miliband, Mr Balls is likely to be worst affected by the story, as it resuscitates the worst aspects of his reputation.
Known as a bruiser in parliament, the shadow chancellor's warm expression while speaking to the media is entirely at odds with the tough, plotting character alluded to in the files.
Reports this morning suggested that Cabinet secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell is set to order a leak inquiry into how his files were made public.
It is understood that the last time Mr Balls saw the handwritten notes they were on his desk at the Department of Education at the time of the general election.
Mr Balls then went on to fight the Labour leadership election, but his association with Mr Brown proved to be his undoing as Ed Miliband, seen by many Blairites as the acceptable face of Mr Brown's coterie, took the leadership.
Labour figures have tried to write off the story - which will continue to be published by the Telegraph as the month progresses - as ancient history, but with Mr Balls taking on an increasingly high profile role in Mr Miliband's party, it will be met with dismay behind closed doors.
A renewed media fixation with the tribal disruptions of New Labour runs against Mr Miliband's attempts to put the period behind him.

Dutch film director Tom Six has made a flick too sick for the Brits.

British censors have refused to classify Six's sequel to his earlier classic, The Human Centipede.

The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence) depicts a chap who obsesses over the first Centipede flick and then goes on a rampage, getting his sexual jollies from torturing his naked victims.

Six doubtlessly figured this a recipe for success, but the British Board of Film Classification disagreed. A refusal to classify virtually bans the film.

The sequel is bound to be a tad blue, since the original, which the censors allowed public viewing, depicts a mad scientist who grafts kidnap victims mouth to anus, hence the "centipede" moniker. (Roger Ebert was not tempted to give it a thumbs up: "I am required to award stars to movies I review. This time, I refuse to do it. The star rating system is unsuited to this film. Is the movie good? Is it bad? Does it matter? It is what it is and occupies a world where the stars don't shine.")

Six promised Centipede II would make the original look like "My Little Pony" in comparison.

The mutilation and humiliation inflicted in II involves an in-depth examination of the torturer's sexual fantasies. The trailer boasted the film was "the sickest movie of all time."


The classification board agreed: "There is little attempt to portray any of the victims in the film as anything other than objects to be brutalised, degraded and mutilated for the amusement and arousal of the central character, as well as for the pleasure of the audience."

It's not known how North American movie bureaucrats will react to Centipede II, but the British decision could pressure the MPAA in the U.S. to kibosh the cinematic gem as well. Six said it's North American premiere would occur "some time after summer."

Not surprisingly, Six (we live in an age of apropos names, don't we Anthony Weiner?) is protesting the British decision.

"Apparently, I made an horrific horror film, but shouldn't a good horror film be horrific?" Six opined to Empire magazine. "My dear people it is a f****cking MOVIE. It is all fictional. Not real. It is all make-belief. It is art. Give people their own choice to watch it or not. If people can't handle or like my movies they just don't watch them."

Of course, Six may still get the last laugh. Bans have a tendency to whet the appetites of many a movie-goer who lusts to view a mad scientist getting his jollies from eviscerating his victims. Coming soon to an Internet porn site near you, no doubt.

Ryan Giggs seems to have a habit of trying to stop people spilling the beans.

Having successfully taken out an injunction to prevent alleged lover Imogen Thomas from blabbing about their affair, Giggs is reportedly trying to gag his own brother.

According to The Sun, Giggs has offered his "devastated" brother £250,000 to keep quiet about any more skeletons that might be lurking in his closet.

A source told the paper: "Rhodri is telling people Ryan wants to shut him up. The figure on the table is a quarter of a million.

"Poor Rhodri feels utterly betrayed by Ryan and doesn't know what to do for the best. He's been through hell. He's not exactly rolling in cash, so £250,000 would be very useful."

The Sun claims Rhodri is being represented by an expensive legal team from the same firm that helped Ryan with his injunction.

The insider revealed that Rhodri is "in turmoil" over whether to accept the cash but suggested that he is close to signing a gagging order, despite knowing "where all the bodies are buried".