Answers demanded over hacking claim

Jul 8 2009

Former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said he wanted answers from police over claims they knew his phone was tapped by private investigators working for journalists but was not told about it.

The Guardian claimed News Group Newspapers, which publishes titles including the News of the World, had paid out more than £1 million to settle cases that threatened to reveal evidence of its journalists' alleged involvement in telephone hacking.

It quoted sources saying police officers found evidence of News Group staff using private investigators who had hacked into "thousands" of mobile phones.

MPs from all three parties and Cabinet ministers including Mr Prescott and former culture secretary Tessa Jowell were among the targets, the newspaper said.

Mr Prescott, asked on Channel 4 News if he had been told by police that his phone was tapped, said: "Absolutely not. I find it staggering that there could be a list known to the police of people who had their phone tapped.

"I'm named as one of them, for such a criminal act not to be reported to me, and for action not to be taken against the people who have done it, reflects very badly on the police, and I want to know their answer."

The Guardian said Andy Coulson, Conservative leader David Cameron's director of communications, was deputy editor and then editor of the News of the World when journalists were using the private investigators.

Mr Coulson resigned from the News of the World after royal editor Clive Goodman was sentenced to four months in prison in January 2007 for plotting to hack into telephone messages belonging to royal aides.

Mr Prescott said of Mr Coulson's current role: "I hope Mr Cameron will clear him out."

And he added: "Seeing some of the stories in the press that are always printed about me, and the family, I couldn't help but feel that they had more access to private information. The secretaries in my own office complained that the journalists had their private telephone numbers and mobile numbers, and couldn't understand why."