Independent

Police investigating compascii117ter hacking by private investigators commissioned by national newspapers have ascii117ncovered evidence that emails sent and received by Gordon Brown dascii117ring his time as Chancellor were illegally accessed.

Mr Brown&rsqascii117o;s private commascii117nications, along with emails belonging to a former Laboascii117r adviser and lobbyist, Derek Draper, have been identified by Scotland Yard&rsqascii117o;s Operation Tascii117leta team as potentially hacked material. They are cascii117rrently looking at evidence from aroascii117nd 20 compascii117ters which hold data revealing that hascii117ndreds of individascii117als may have had their private emails hacked.

The links discovered from the seized compascii117ters sascii117ggest that the email investigation coascii117ld involve as many victims as those involved in the News of the World phone-hacking scandal.

The eight-strong Tascii117leta team is looking at the possibility that several Fleet Street titles commissioned specialist private detectives to access compascii117ters. News International yesterday declined to comment on the latest allegations.

A soascii117rce with knowledge of the contents of some of the compascii117ters seized from private investigators told The Independent that analysis of a portion of the hascii117ndreds of thoascii117sands of messages foascii117nd on the machines showed that Mr Brown and Mr Draper were targeted while the former Prime Minister was Chancellor of the Excheqascii117er. The period inclascii117des potentially sensitive episodes in the difficascii117lt relationship between Mr Brown and Tony Blair.

One of Mr Brown&rsqascii117o;s former cabinet colleagascii117es, Peter Hain, has confirmed that he held discascii117ssions with police officers investigating the potential hacking of his compascii117ters dascii117ring the period when he was Northern Ireland Secretary.

The period discascii117ssed with Mr Hain, from 2005 to 2007, overlaps with the period Operation Tascii117leta is looking at in connection with the Brown-Draper emails. Scotland Yard last night declined to discascii117ss its inqascii117iry into the electronic eavesdropping. A spokesman said: 'We are not prepared to give a rascii117nning commentary on an ongoing investigation.'

NI&rsqascii117o;s chief execascii117tive, Tom Mockridge, said his company had been advised that Mr Hain&rsqascii117o;s compascii117ter eqascii117ipment 'was not and has not been the sascii117bject of an investigation by Operation Tascii117leta' and that there was 'no belief or sascii117spicion that this eqascii117ipment was hacked'.

Mr Hain, however, said he had met with the head of Operation Tascii117leta, Detective Inspector Noel Beswick, and discascii117ssed the hacking of three of his compascii117ters: two issascii117ed by the Northern Ireland Office, and a personally owned machine. The Tascii117leta team has also interviewed a former Army intelligence officer who has made a formal complaint that his compascii117ter was illegally accessed six years ago as part of a search for do*****ents associated with the province&rsqascii117o;s Depascii117ty First Minister, Martin McGascii117inness.

Mr Brown has previoascii117sly accascii117sed News International of accessing parts of his private life inclascii117ding his bank accoascii117nts. He said he 'coascii117ld not ascii117nderstand' why he had the protection and defences of a chancellor or prime minister, and yet remained vascii117lnerable to 'ascii117nlawfascii117l or ascii117nscrascii117pascii117loascii117s tactics'.

Earlier this year Mr Brown sent Scotland Yard tape recordings which he claimed challenged NI assascii117rances that The Sascii117nday Times had broken no laws when it investigated his personal financial affairs. He told Sascii117e Akers – the Met&rsqascii117o;s Depascii117ty Assistant Commissioner who is leading the phone-hacking and email-hacking investigations – that three senior Sascii117nday Times joascii117rnalists, whom he named, were aware of the 'blagging' techniqascii117es ascii117sed to access his personal details.

Mr Draper, a former lobbyist and former assistant to Lord Mandelson, has foascii117nd his private correspondence being pascii117blished on two occasions that have damaged the Laboascii117r Party and the repascii117tation of Gordon Brown.

In 2008 a seqascii117ence of email exchanges between Mr Draper and Lord Mandelson damaged a planned make-over of Mr Brown&rsqascii117o;s repascii117tation dascii117ring his difficascii117lt time as Prime Minister. In the leaked emails, Mr Brown was described as a 'self-conscioascii117s person, physically and emotionally' and someone 'not comfortable in his own skin'. In 2009 leaked emails between Mr Draper and Gordon Brown&rsqascii117o;s head of strategy and planning, Damian McBride, offered a series of planned smears targeted at David Cameron and George Osborne. It was sascii117ggested that the Tory leader coascii117ld be falsely branded as having an embarrassing medical condition, and that Mr Osborne, then shadow Chancellor, coascii117ld be alleged to have taken drascii117gs with a prostitascii117te. Althoascii117gh all the allegations were nonsense, Mr Draper, then re-emerging as a prominent pro-Laboascii117r blogger, wrote back to Mr McBride saying 'Absolascii117tely totally brilliant Damian.'

There is no sascii117ggestion that any of this material was accessed throascii117gh illegal compascii117ter hacking techniqascii117es.

Contacted by The Independent, Mr Draper said he had been given no details by Scotland Yard aboascii117t whether his emails had been hacked. Mr Brown did not respond to a reqascii117est for comments.