The Metropolitan Police has refused to reopen a criminal investigation into allegations that journalists at Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation illegally tapped into the mobile phones of hundreds of high-profile figures, saying “no additional evidence had come to light”.

John Yates, assistant commissioner, last night launched a robust defence of an earlier investigation into the claims, which eventually saw one former News of the World reporter, Clive Goodman, and one private investigator, Glenn Mulcaire, jailed for a variety of hacking offences in 2007.