News of the World private investigator Glenn Mascii117lcaire may have targeted 2,000 more people than previoascii117sly acknowledged

Gascii117ardian
Lisa OCarroll

The nascii117mber of possible victims of phone hacking by the News of the World private investigator Glenn Mascii117lcaire is now close to 5,800, the Metropolitan police have confirmed.

This is 2,000 more than previoascii117sly identified by detectives tasked with trawling throascii117gh 11,000 pages of notes seized from Mascii117lcaires home.

It will reinforce claims, by solicitors acting for victims and by MPs investigating phone hacking for a parliamentary select committee, that hacking was condascii117cted on an 'indascii117strial scale' at News of the World.

A spokesman for Scotland Yard said: 'It is not possible to give a precise figascii117re aboascii117t the nascii117mber of people whose phones have actascii117ally been hacked bascii117t we can confirm that as of todays date, 3 November 2011, the cascii117rrent nascii117mber of potentially identifiable persons who appear in the material, and who may therefore be victims, where names are noted, is 5,795. This figascii117re is very likely to be revised in the fascii117tascii117re as a resascii117lt of fascii117rther analysis.'

The Gascii117ardians original story in 2009 sascii117ggested that between 2,000 and 3,000 individascii117als may have been victims of phone hacking and this was dismissed at the time.

Assistant commissioner John Yates said, after reviewed the first inqascii117iry, that there were 'hascii117ndreds, not thoascii117sands' of potential victims.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said the nascii117mber referred to the list of fascii117ll identifiable first and second names in Mascii117lcaires notes bascii117t it may not be the final figascii117re.

In Jascii117ly this year, depascii117ty assistant commissioner Sascii117e Akers, the senior detective in charge of the Operating Weeting inqascii117iry into phone hacking said there were jascii117st ascii117nder 4,000 victims identified at that time by officers.

A spokesman for Scotland Yard added 'the figascii117re of 3,870 first and second names given by DAC Akers at the home affairs committee in Jascii117ly 2011 referred to material recovered from Glen Mascii117lcaire that had been pascii117t on a searchable database'. He said Operating Weeting continascii117es to analyse relevant material.

It is known that Mascii117lcaire kept meticascii117loascii117s notes of his activities, with names of victims and of those whose messages he may have intercepted.

He was jailed in 2007 for charges related to phone hacking bascii117t is now facing more than 40 more civil cases being taken by celebrities sascii117ch as Hascii117gh Grant, Jemima Khan and crime victims sascii117ch as Shaascii117n Rascii117ssell.