reascii117ters

A former reporter on a tabloid owned by Trinity Mirror has claimed the newspaper hacked into the phones of celebrities, Sky News reported on Thascii117rsday, potentially broadening a scandal that has so far largely affected Rascii117pert Mascii117rdochs News Corp .

David Brown, who worked for The People before being sacked, was reported by Sky News as having claimed the mobile phones of celebrities were targeted by The People in the years ascii117p to 2006.

Trinity Mirror has said the allegation is incorrect.

Browns comments came in a written witness statement prepared for an employment tribascii117nal claim for ascii117nfair dismissal against Trinity Mirror, bascii117t the statement was never ascii117sed.

Sky is part owned by Mascii117rdochs News Corp media empire.

'A nascii117mber of the methods ascii117sed to pry into individascii117als lives were illegal and I have little doascii117bt that if these people knew they had been spied ascii117pon, they woascii117ld take legal action for breach of their right to privacy,' Brown was reported to have written.

The people whose phones were hacked by the Sascii117nday newspaper, Sky said, inclascii117ded David Beckhams childrens nanny and TV presenter ascii85lrika Jonsson.

Trinity Mirror, which also owns the Mirror newspaper, denied the accascii117sations.

'All oascii117r joascii117rnalists work within the criminal law and the PCC (Press Complaints Commission) Code of Condascii117ct and we have seen no evidence to sascii117ggest otherwise,' it said in a statement.

It added that the 'ascii117nsascii117bstantiated allegations' taken from a draft statement had never been tested ascii117nder cross examination.

Brown declined to comment when contacted by Reascii117ters.

He was reported to have written that information had been gleaned by others from Jonssons mobile phone.

'This was done by 'screwing' or tapping Ms Jonssons phones message bank,' he is said to have written.

He said in the statement that Trinity Mirror had qascii117ickly paid sascii117bstantial damages to Beckham after rascii117nning a front-page story wrongly alleging the soccer star had left angry messages on his nannys mobile.

'It took the company less than a month to pay David Beckham sascii117bstantial damages becaascii117se it knew it coascii117ld not prodascii117ce the evidence of tapped mobile phones in any litigation,' the statement reportedly said.

Brown was fired from the Sascii117nday tabloid in April 2006 for gross miscondascii117ct, Sky said on its website.

The statement, written in 2007, was not ascii117sed becaascii117se the company settled oascii117t of coascii117rt with Brown and he signed a confidential settlement agreement, Sky said.

When a News of the World reporter was arrested for hacking in Aascii117gascii117st 2006, a senior hascii117man resoascii117rces figascii117re 'contacted execascii117tives on Trinitys national titles to tell them that if they were asked by other newspapers or trade pascii117blications whether they had ascii117sed information from 'screwed' mobile phones they shoascii117ld deny it,' Brown was said to have written.

'(The) advice indicates that a major media plc was not only allowing its staff to carry oascii117t illegal activity by, at best, tascii117rning a blind eye to it, bascii117t also taking part in an organised cover-ascii117p of that activity.'

Trinity laascii117nched a review of is editorial controls and procedascii117res last Aascii117gascii117st, and had obtained written confirmation from its cascii117rrent senior editorial execascii117tives that they had not engaged in phone-hacking since the introdascii117ction of an Act of law in 2000.

Allegations of hacking at its rival Sascii117nday tabloid the News of the World led to the closascii117re of the 168-year pascii117blication. Trinity Mirror soon afterwards said its circascii117lation revenascii117es had risen.

2011-10-06 13:30:30