THE NEWS of the Worldpaid an investigator to intercept the e-mails of a former British intelligence officer who was involved in exposing senior IRA figure Freddie Scappaticci as an informer, the BBC Panoramaprogramme alleged last night.
The allegations against the tabloid are the first to suggest that e-mails, and not just voicemail messages, were intercepted by the Sunday tabloid before a senior journalist was jailed in 2007.
In 2004, ex-British intelligence agent Ian Hurst, along with Belfast-based journalist Greg Harkin, published a book, Stakeknife,which covered Mr Scappaticci's role as an informer and alleged British intelligence had orchestrated assassinations in Northern Ireland.
Now, it is alleged the News of the World'sthen senior executive editor, Alex Marunchak, hired two former police detectives in 2006 to examine e-mails sent by Mr Hurst, known up to now only by his pseudonym, Martin Ingram.
In last night’s programme Mr Hurst was seen interviewing the computer expert allegedly hired by the former detectives, in which the hacker admitted he placed a so-called Trojan virus on Mr Hurst’s computer’s hard-drive.
Secretly filmed by Panorama,the hacker, who cannot be named because he is facing other charges, said: "It weren't [sic] that hard. I sent you an e-mail that you opened, and that's it ... I sent it from a bogus address ... Now it's gone."
Last night, Mr Hurst, speaking to The Irish Times,said Panoramahad found the now dormant virus in his hard-drive in recent months after they sent it for technical examination, but no evidence his e-mails were still being intercepted.
The information allegedly gleaned was faxed to the News of the World 'sDublin office, where Mr Marunchak was then editing its Irish edition. Mr Scappaticci secured a court order blocking the publication of anything that could identify his whereabouts.
The information gleaned due to the virus, which operated for three months before it self-destructed, was later shared with MI5, Panoramaalleges, which appears to imply the source for the programme's information about the newspaper's conduct came from MI5.
Mr Hurst, a controversial figure in many quarters, said his computers were now scanned twice a day for viruses: “But back in 2006 we were all a bit naive about internet security – not like now.”
The timing of the alleged interception may have political consequences, since Andy Coulson, British prime minister David Cameron’s former communications adviser, was still editing the Sunday newspaper at the time.
Mr Coulson, who has denied he knew anything about illegal interceptions, quit his Downing Street position as Mr Cameron’s adviser in January, saying the controversy was preventing him doing his job.
Last night, the News of the World'sparent company, News International, said Panoramahad made "serious allegations" against Mr Marunchak, who left the paper in 2006, but, to date, it had not provided evidence to back them up.
"If Panoramahas evidence that illegal acts were actually commissioned by this newspaper, then we urge them to supply this information so we can properly investigate it. As recent events show we will not tolerate misconduct by staff," News International said.
The parent company has insisted throughout that just one journalist on the newspaper, Clive Goodman, was involved.
He was jailed in January 2007 along with private investigator Glenn Mulcaire.
Panoramaalso broadcast an interview with former News of the Worldjournalist Sean Hoare in which he alleged the tabloid hired private investigators to illegally hack into bank accounts, phone records, mortgage accounts and health records.
