LONDON – Rupert Murdoch's News of the Worldhacked extensively into the voice mail of a minister in Britain's former Labour government, informants say.
The unauthorised access to voice mails left for Denis Mac Shane in 2004 and 2005, as he served as minister for Europe, is one of a handful of cases to surface involving a serving government official in the hacking scandal that has engulfed News Corp.
A private detective hired by the newspaper hacked voice mails left for Mr MacShane, according to the three people familiar with documentary evidence held by British police. Mr MacShane is still MP for Rotherham in Yorkshire.
Some of the messages hacked by Glenn Mulcaire, a private detective who worked on retainer for the News of the World, included voice mails from Joan Smith, a newspaper columnist and crime novelist with whom Mr MacShane had a relationship at the time.
The sources said that the News of the World'sobjective in hacking Mr MacShane's and Ms Smith's messages appeared to be to discover more information about their relationship.
At one point, according to documents police seized from Mr Mulcaire, the private eye wrote down details, apparently obtained from Mr MacShane’s voice mail, relating to a trip he was about to take to Spain.
The information hacked by Mulcaire related to a confidential mission Mr MacShane was making in his capacity as one of prime minister Tony Blair’s principal advisers on Europe.
A representative of News International said the company was not commenting on any individual cases. – (Reuters)