Actress Sienna Miller (Credit: Flickr, "SpreePIX-Berlin")

In the latest twist of a phone-hacking scandal, actress Sienna Miller has accused News of the World of violating her privacy, stealing her private voicemail messages and exploiting her celebrity for stories.

iMediaEthics wrote in September just after the New York Times’ published its expose on News of the World, claiming the tabloid newspaper had “a culture” of encouraging phone-hacking in order to get stories.  News of the World countered, accusing the Times of pursuing the story because of competition (News of the World is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News International, which also owns the New York Time’s main rival, The Wall Street Journal)

News of the World also claimed the Times had bad sources.  A former News of the World reporter, Clive Goodman, was convicted of phone hacking in 2007, as was private investigator Glenn Mulcaire.

On Dec. 11, Britain’s director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer, reportedly stated there would be no new criminal investigation into the hacking scandal or any charges against Coulson, the Los Angeles Times reported.

A former News of the World  reporter Sean Hoare reportedly told the Times for its September report that News of the World  encouraged hacking.

According to the Los Angles Times, “Starmer said Hoare refused to elaborate on his allegations when interviewed by police. Other witnesses also ‘either refused to cooperate with the police investigation, provided short statements which did not advance matters or denied any knowledge of wrongdoing, Starmer said.”

But, just two days later, the Guardian reported that Detective Chief Superintendent Phil Williams said in a Scottish court that the case might be reopened.

“A criminal inquiry into phone-hacking at the News of the World could be reopened and staff prosecuted following legal action by some of its alleged victims, a court heard today,” the Guardian reported.  Williams made his comments to “the high court in Glasgow.”

According to Williams, “nearly 3,000 mobile phone numbers were found in Mulcaire’s documents and notes, with 91 pin codes” during a 2006 raid.

In a Dec. 15 follow-up article, the Guardian reported that actress Sienna Miller claimed that her phone and the phones of her friends and family were hacked by News of the World. 

Miller filed lawsuits charging breach or privacy and harassment against News Group and Mulcaire, the Guardian reported.

“Lawyers have secured explosive new evidence linking one of News of the World’s most senior editorial executives to the hacking of voicemail messages from the phones of Sienna Miller, Jude Law and their friends and employees,” the Guardian reported.

According to the Guardian, the revelations came via a document by Miller’s lawyers Mark Thomson and Hugh Tomlinson.

“The document claims Mulcaire’s handwritten notes imply that the news editor of the NoW, Ian Edmondson, instructed him to intercept Miller’s voicemail and that the operation also involved targeting her mother, her publicist and one of her closest friends as well as Law, her former partner, and his personal assistant. During the operation Mulcaire obtained confidential data held by mobile phone companies in relation to nine different phone numbers, the notes reveal.”

The document’s revelations are signfiicant because “The new evidence explicitly contradicts the account of News of the World” and Coulson.

We are emailing representatives of News of the World and Miller for comment.