Royal cellphone probe widens after royal correspondent arrested

Prince William

LONDON - Police investigating the suspected interception of royal phone messages by a journalist are trying to find out if other leading public figures have had their mobile phones hacked into.

The investigation by Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist branch follows complaints by staff working for Prince Charles that someone was gaining access to messages left on their mobile phones.

News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman was one of three men arrested yesterday following a lengthy police inquiry. A 50-year-old man was later released.

Goodman, 48, and Glen Mulcaire, 35, were charged with conspiring to intercept phone messages. Both were released on bail and ordered to attend a court hearing next Wednesday.

Police are now trying to find out if anyone gained access to the messages of dozens of politicians, including a senior minister, and celebrities.

The maximum sentence for intercepting messages is two years in jail and an unlimited fine.

The alarm was raised in December last year after details relating to private messages involving Prince William were published in the News of the World.

At least one Cabinet Minister, but not the Prime Minister, is understood to be among those allegedly affected, as well as celebrities, high-profile footballers and other senior politicians. It is also suspected that the mobile phone of Max Clifford, the publicity consultant who handles controversial and valuable newspaper stories, was hacked into.

The illegal technique of hacking into mobile phone messages has been widespread for several years, according to newspaper sources. Several freelance journalists have made a successful career out of picking up tips from the telephone messages left for politicians and celebrities.

It is relatively simple to hack into someone's messages by calling up their voicemail and using what is called a "default" code. Unless the phone owner installs his own code, the handset will release voicemail messages when someone uses the automatic default option. Most people do not bother to use a code, or are unaware that they need one.

The secret affair between Sven Goran Eriksson and the television presenter Ulrika Jonsson is believed to have been uncovered by the method.

David Blunkett, the former Home Secretary, is also convinced that he was a victim of the trick when his relationship with the publisher Kimberly Quinn was revealed.

A television journalist said the alarm was raised after he and Prince William realised that the mobile phone voicemail messages of royal aides
could have been hacked into. Tom Bradby, ITV's political editor, claimed details of a meeting he had arranged with the Prince appeared in the News of the World before it had even taken place.

When he met Prince William and discussed the matter, the Prince raised concerns about a story that had appeared about a meeting with his knee surgeon. They concluded one way the details could have got out was the interception of mobile phone messages.

Bradby, a former royal correspondent for ITV, said: "I was due to have a private meeting with William and I was pretty surprised to find that not only details of the meeting but of what we were going to discuss pitched up in the News of the World the Sunday before.

"When he and I hooked up we both looked at each other and said, 'Well how on Earth did that get out?' and we worked out that only he and I and two people incredibly close to him had actually known about it.

"His chief of staff is a former SAS officer and his attitude was that if this is potentially happening to us, who on Earth else could it be happening to?

"He passed his concerns on to the police; the police had a small investigation to begin with into the localised incident in Clarence House."

Clarence House is the official residence of Prince Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall and Princes William and Harry.

Goodman was held at his home in Putney and was then questioned at Charing Cross police station.

One of the longest-serving and most senior reporters at the News of the World, he holds the paper's record for the highest number of consecutive front-page leads.

During the height of the media frenzy surrounding Diana, Princess of Wales in the early 1990s, he notched up five in succession.

He is nominally answerable to the newsdesk but is, in common with the paper's investigations editor, Mazher Mahmood, afforded great autonomy.

A 35-year-old man who was arrested at his home in Sutton, south London, is being held at a different police station. A third man, who was also arrested in Sutton, was released on bail.

All three were detained under Section 1 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.

Detectives are analysing a large number of telephone numbers, who they belong to and whether they have been subject to interception.

They have searched a number of addresses, including the offices of News International in Wapping, east London, as well as in Sutton and Chelsea.

Sources denied that either Charles' or his wife's phones were among those allegedly hacked into.

- INDEPENDENT