UK phone-hack probe involves 3,000 people

Police investigating alleged phone hacking are to write to 3,000 people telling them their details have been found on seized documents.

Officers will contact people named on papers confiscated six years ago from Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator who worked for the News of the World at the time.

Mulcaire was jailed along with the Sunday newspaper’s royal correspondent, Clive Goodman, after they were found to have illegally hacked into voicemails to get stories.

When the case originally came to court, evidence was presented that just eight people had been targeted and that journalists’ involvement began and ended with Goodman.

But the investigation was re-opened last month when head of news Ian Edmondson was sacked in the light of new evidence found during an internal investigation at the tabloid.

Parent company News International handed over this evidence to the Met, which it has been analysing alongside documents seized in 2005.

Former deputy prime minister Lord Prescott has been identified as among the newly identified potential victims, according to reports.

He was visited by Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers, who is leading the fresh investigation into the practice, The Guardian says.

Lord Prescott is believed to have been targeted in 2006 – the month he admitted having an affair with his diary secretary, Tracey Temple.

He claims to have been told that invoices recovered by police showed he was targeted by Mulcaire.

“I think this proves my long-held belief that the original Met police investigation into Mulcaire and News International (owner of the News of the World) was completely inadequate and failed to follow all the evidence,” he told The Guardian.

“I now look forward to the Met Police finally uncovering the truth.”

A Met police spokesman admitted some individuals being contacted by police were originally told there was “little or no” evidence that they were involved.

Andy Coulson, News of the World editor at the time, resigned when Goodman was jailed in 2007, saying he took responsibility despite being unaware of any wrongdoing.

Last month Mr Coulson blamed renewed pressure over phone-hacking for his decision to quit as Downing Street’s communications chief.

Former journalists at the paper have claimed that phone hacking was not only widespread but tolerated by senior executives.

And lawyer Mark Lewis says he is representing people who think they have had their communications tapped into by other newspapers.
Source: Sky News