A TOP BBC executive and the former Metropolitan police commissioner Sir Ian Blair were targeted by the News of the World’s phone hacking operation, it was claimed yesterday.
Sir Ian was named in a report in the Sunday Times, part of Rupert Murdoch's News International, which also owns the News of the World. However, last night police sources denied his name was on the list. The names emerged as the Met said it had begun to contact people who allegedly had been the subjects of hacking by the tabloid newspaper, but warned that the process could take some time to complete. "We are not discussing who we are contacting at all," a spokeswoman said.
BBC sources said that the corporation did not know which of its executives had been affected by the scam at the paper, which led to Clive Goodman, then News of the Worldroyal correspondent, and the private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, going to jail in 2007.
Andy Coulson, former editor of the tabloid and now director of communications for the Conservative party, subsequently resigned from the paper saying he did not know about the hacking.
Late on Friday the police confirmed they had started to contact people after the Guardian revealed last week that News International had paid £1 million to settle privacy actions brought by Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association, and two others who took action after Mulcaire hacked into their mobile phone messages.
“The process of contacting people is under way and we expect this to take some time to complete,” the police said.
The Sunday Timesreported that the police investigation into Goodman and Mulcaire uncovered a list of "fewer than 20 people"; it included Boris Johnson, now the London mayor, and a senior executive at the BBC, whose phones were illegally accessed.
This list includes those named in the 2006 court action against Goodman and Mulcaire – besides Taylor, the model Elle Macpherson, the Liberal Democrat MP Simon Hughes, the publicist Max Clifford, and football agent Sky Andrew.
Macpherson’s publicist said in a statement: “Elle is obviously very concerned that her private telephone conversations and those of other people may have been intruded upon by reputable newspapers. She is aware that the director of public prosecutions (DPP) and the information commissioner have files on the issue.
“Ms Macpherson is confident in the ability and the determination of the DPP, the police and information commissioner to ensure that appropriate and proportionate action is taken to prevent any further abuse.” The DPP is reviewing police evidence and could recommend further charges.
A second, larger, list of about 50 people, contained the names Mulcaire had obtained mobile phone details for, but which police had no evidence had been successfully hacked. The Sunday Times reported that Sir Ian and the former culture minister Tessa Jowell were on this list.
The third list, according to the Sunday Times, reportedly included the former deputy prime minister John Prescott and held between 400 and 500 names that Mulcaire wanted to target but for which he had no numbers.
This week the culture, media and sport committee, which has reopened its 2007 phone hacking inquiry in the light of the Guardian'srevelations, will hear evidence from the Guardian.
The following week, the News International lawyer Tom Crone, and News of the World editor Colin Myler (appointed after Coulson’s resignation), will go before the MPs. The committee hopes to hear evidence from the former executive chairman of News International Les Hinton, who at the original inquiry said Goodman had been acting alone without the knowledge of News of the World executives. Mr Hinton has yet to confirm his attendance.
Public figures and celebrities who fear they were the subjects of the phone hacking have been contacting lawyers. The Bethnal Green and Bow MP George Galloway said he was seeing if any action could be taken.
The politician had clashed with the paper in 2006 when its investigations editor, Mahzer Mahmood, attempted to “sting” him at a hotel and implicate him in illegal political funding.
Rod Christie-Miller, partner at the specialist media law firm Schillings, said: “Clients are going to want to see what comes out. Sooner or later there is going to be more concrete evidence about who has been targeted.” He said his firm was already suspicious that phone hacking could have been used against high-profile clients before the story broke.
“It is something we were concerned may have been happening,” he added. “We have advised clients to change settings on phones and turn off bluetooth.”
One lawyer told mediaguardian.co.uk he had advised clients to “hold their horses” to see what details emerged over the coming days, but added that legal claims were “imminent”.