UK police will add third arm to its investigation into News of the World, the Guardian reported.
Already, the police have established Operating Weeting, which is investigating the phone hacking claims, and Operation Elveden, which is investigating if “employees of the now-closed News of the World tabloid paid police for information.”
The police will also create Operation Tuleta to look into accusations that the newspaper hacked computers as well.
According to the Guardian, News of the World is accused of sending “Trojan” emails, which allow “a hacker full access to a target computer’s contents by infecting it with a virus.”
Ian Hurst, a “former army intelligence officer,” has accused the newspaper of using a private investigator to hack his computer.
The Guardian explained that five years ago, Hurst was e-mailed a “Trojan programme which copied his emails and relayed them back to the hacker.” Some of the e-mails identified two Provisional IRA informants, Freddie Scappaticci and Kevin Fulton, who “were regarded as high-risk targets for assassination.”
The London Evening Standard explained that police discovered potential computer hacking “during an investigation into Jonathan Rees, a private investigator used by” News of the World. Evidence reportedly includes “a seven-page fax, dated 5 July 2006, that contained extracts from Hurst’s emails sent by Rees to the News of the World’s Dublin office.”
Former MP Accuses Daily Mirror of Hacking
The Daily Mirror, which is owned by Trinity Mirror Plc and which is currently undergoing an internal review, may have several cases brought against it alleging phone hacking, the Press Gazette reported.
According to the Press Gazette, former Parliament member Paul Marsden alleges the Mirror hacked his phone eight years ago to report “details of his alleged affairs.”
“Over those 18 months we have put together evidence which brings the only reasonable conclusion now that my phone was indeed hacked. That evidence comes from witnesses who can verify it. It also comes from the phone records,” Marsden is quoted as saying.
In response, a Trinity Mirror spokesperson stated that Marsden’s attorney sent a letter last October but has “failed to produce a single shred of evidence to back up his unfounded allegations.”
iMediaEthics has written to the Mirror for comment and will update with any response.