Judicial Inquiry into Press Standards to Begin

An official inquiry led by a judge into the press standards in the wake of the News of the World phone-hacking scandal is set to start on Monday.

According to the BBC, appeal court judge Lord Justice Leveson will record the evidence, including from the alleged hacking victims, at the Royal Courts of Justice in central London.

The two-part inquiry initiated by Prime Minister David Cameron will see Lord Justice Leveson examine the culture, practices, and ethics of the press in the first part. Afterwards, it will examine the amount of illegal behaviour within the newspaper industry and the original phone-hacking investigation by the police.

The inquiry will also consider the viability of the existing system of self-regulation.

The second part of the inquiry will wait until the police investigation into the phone hacking scandal yields any results that will perhaps lead to prosecution.

The biggest task for Lord Justice Leveson as he begins his work 'will be to make sure the hearing here doesn't get in the way of the criminal investigation', the BBC report said.

Sessions' live video will be posted on the inquiry's website. However, the first witnesses are unlikely to be called until next week.

Evidences will be presented by the family of the murdered teenager Milly Dowler and missing girl Madeleine McCann's parents.

The News of the World was forced to wind up its operations early this year after reports confirmed that Milly Dowler's phone was hacked by journalists working for the newspaper.