Rupert Murdoch's son James has been accused of misleading British MPs this week when he said he did not know when authorising a settlement that phone hacking at News of the World went beyond one reporter.

Colin Myler, a former editor of the newspaper, and Tom Crone, who resigned last week as legal manager for the Murdoch media empire's British publishing arm, News International, issued a statement saying they had warned him there was evidence when he authorised a key payout to a victim.

James Murdoch, the chairman of News International, told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday he did not know of the evidence when he approved a payout to Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association.

Myler and Crone said: "We would like to point out that James Murdoch's recollection of what he was told when agreeing to settle the Gordon Taylor litigation was mistaken."