PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR Glenn Mulcaire, who was jailed for intercepting the voicemail messages of famous people for the News of the World, must name all of the journalists involved, a London court has ruled.
Up to now, Mr Mulcaire has refused to do so on the grounds he would incriminate himself, but Mr Justice Vos ruled he must do so, and also identify other people who had their messages intercepted.
The judge said there is “abundant evidence” former Sky Sports presenter Andy Gray was targeted and there is “strong inference” some of the confidential information obtained was misused.
The court challenge had been taken by Gray, who was sacked from Sky Sports after he was shown to have made sexist remarks off-air, and actor Steve Coogan, who also believes he was targeted by the Sunday tabloid.
The two have a right to know the identities of all of the journalists involved, said Mr Justice Vos, because it is alleged the News of the Worldand Mr Mulcaire, who had a £100,000 a year contract with the newspaper, had intercepted voicemails on "an industrial scale".
“It will be important to the claimant’s case to establish the pattern of the interception activities. The general practice that Mr Mulcaire adopted in taking instructions from and reporting to journalists in admitted cases will be relevant to the existence of the conspiracy alleged,” said the judge.
Mr Mulcaire, who was jailed in 2007 and has already served his sentence, has been granted leave to appeal the ruling about journalists’ identities, but he has not been given permission to challenge the ruling that he name other victims.
So far, the News of the Worldhas insisted its former royal correspondent Clive Goodman, who was jailed along with Mr Mulcaire, was the only journalist to be involved, though it sacked a senior executive in mid-December.
The Metropolitan Police, which has reopened its investigation into the affair, says so many voicemail transcripts are being examined it is difficult to identify every mention of a celebrity’s name.
Fourteen people are suing the newspaper, including former England footballer Paul Gascoigne, politician George Galloway, actor Sienna Miller and interior designer Kelly Hoppen, while more than 100 are preparing to do so.
Nearly 3,000 names were found in notebooks held by Mr Mulcaire by detectives when they raided his home in 2006, though scores of people have complained that the Metropolitan Police made little effort to find out if they had been victims.
Mr Mulcaire was told he must identify the journalists who ordered him to intercept voicemails and those to whom he passed on information about six people including publicist Max Clifford and model Elle McPherson.