Murdoch chief’s phone ‘hacked by private eye’
Rebekah Brooks. Photo: Reuters
THE chief executive of Rupert Murdoch’s News International has been shown police evidence revealing that her voicemail was repeatedly hacked by a private investigator employed by one of the company’s newspapers.
The Independent last night reported that News International confirmed the 43-year-old media executive Rebekah Brooks met Metropolitan Police detectives last week to see records showing she was targeted by Glenn Mulcaire, the private detective employed by News International’s Sunday tabloid News of the World to eavesdrop on the voicemails of numerous public figures.
According to The Independent, the alleged hacking took place between 2005 and 2006, when Ms Brooks, who is also a former editor of the News of the World, was in charge of The Sun.
She became the subject of media interest in her personal life in November 2005 when she was arrested for an alleged assault on her then husband, actor Ross Kemp. She was released without charge.
The revelation that Ms Brooks was a likely repeated target for Mr Mulcaire was first made by Sky News, whose largest shareholder is Mr Murdoch’s News Corporation. Mr Murdoch is in London to attend a company board meeting.
The company’s shareholders and non-executive directors are believed to be concerned about the way the hacking affair has been handled by Mr Murdoch’s London lieutenants.
Three News of the World journalists have been arrested since the Metropolitan Police reopened its inquiry into the claims.
The Met’s original inquiry into the practice led to the conviction of NOTW royal editor Clive Goodman and Glenn Mulcaire in 2007.
A Manchester United footballer is the latest high-profile figure to sue the Murdoch tabloid for breach of privacy, claiming that his mobile phone messages were intercepted by journalists working for the paper.
Ryan Giggs has begun legal proceedings against the tabloid and Mulcaire over the phone hacking.
Scotland Yard, which is investigating multiple claims that NOTW staff hacked into the voicemail messages of celebrities and politicians, would not comment on the cases of either Ms Brooks or Giggs.
Actress Sienna Miller was last week awarded £100,000 ($A153,810) damages at London’s High Court after bringing a privacy and harassment claim in connection with the NOTW‘s phone-hacking action.
Other well-known figures said to have been victims of mobile phone message hacking include actor Jude Law, former prime minister Gordon Brown, ex-footballer Paul Gascoigne and comedian Steve Coogan.
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By on 27/06/2011