News of the World scandal widens

Gordon Brown and his family was targeted

The former prime minister was repeatedly targeted by the tabloid and its sister publications over a period of 10 years before and during his time at 10 Downing Street, according to the Guardian‘s Nick Davies (who has emerged as the Bob Woodward of this scandal). Not only did reporters try to hack his voice mail — they also stole information about his bank account, legal files, and some of his family’s medical records (sometimes by pretending to be him in order to get access to private accounts). They hacked his accountant’s computer to steal tax paperwork. And a private investigator may have also “used a serving police officer” to search secret government records about the prime minister.

Davies found:

– Scotland Yard has discovered references to both Brown and his wife, Sarah, in paperwork seized from Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator who specialized in phone hacking for the News of the World;

– Abbey National Bank found evidence suggesting that a “blagger” [someone pretending to be Brown] acting for the Sunday Times [a paper owned by Murdoch] on six occasions posed as Brown and gained details from his account;

– Brown’s London lawyers, Allen & Overy, were tricked into handing over details from his file by a conman working for the Sunday Times;

– Details about Brown’s infant son’s medical records were obtained by the Sun [another News Corp. publication], which published a story about the child’s serious illness.

Obviously, this goes way beyond reporting at this point. These people should be working for a spy agency.

More royal hacking

Davies also reported today that police had warned the royal family that they found evidence of further phone hacking. This time, the victims were Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall. Davies said the count of royals — and royal staff — who have been caught up in the scandal now stands at 10.

Davies said there are other unidentified royal family members who have also been identified as victims by Scotland Yard.

Meanwhile, the BBC reported today that there’s evidence a News of the World reporter tried to buy a stolen phone book with the phone numbers of royal family members. The book was offered for £1,000 by a police officer.

9/11 victims may have been targeted

It can hardly come as a shock — given that we already knew the paper spied into the phone records of British 7/7 terrorist attack victims — but Britain’s Daily Mirror reported that journalists at the tabloid also tried to get information about dead 9/11 victims. According to the rival British paper, a New York policeman claimed he was contacted by News of the World journalists, offering to pay him money to retrieve the victims’ private phone records — particularly British victims.

Central figure in the scandal to be questioned — but not as a suspect

Meanwhile, Rebekah Brooks, the News International executive who was editor of the News of the World from 2000 to 2003 — will reportedly be questioned by police soon, according to the BBC. She will only be questioned as a witness, not as a suspect, reportedly. Despite overseeing the paper at the height of the activity, she denies ever knowing the hacking was going on. Brooks’s successor at the paper, Andy Coulson, was arrested Friday in connection with the paper’s illegal activities.

Rupert Murdoch has stood by Brooks — who rose from secretary to editor of the paper. Her onetime friend, however, Prime Minister David Cameron, has suggested she should have been fired.

The BBC reported today that a “well-placed source” said in 2006 that Brooks “called the Browns to inform them she knew their son Fraser was suffering from cystic fibrosis. The Browns believe only medical staff treating Fraser had access to that information and friends of the family say Ms Brooks’ call caused them immense distress since they were only just coming to terms with the diagnosis.”

If true, she would seemingly have a lot to talk about when she meets with the police.

Celebrities fight back

There’s been some strong reaction from alleged celebrity victims of the hacking and others who have been targeted by the paper in the past.

George Michael tweeted that the news of the paper’s closure last week was “a fantastic day for Britain.”

On Thursday, Hugh Grant called out politicians for being “terrified to take on any of the tabloids, but especially anything from News International.”

And in a video you have to see from over the weekend, British comedian Steve Coogan, who is also thought to be a victim of phone-hacking, confronted a former editor at the News of the World, who defended the paper’s actions (“What better source of getting the truth [than] to listen to somebody’s messages?”). Coogan called the editor “a walking PR disaster” and “morally bankrupt.”

“You are not uncovering corruption; you are not bringing down institutions that are inherently corrupt,” Coogan said. “You are just trying to find out who is sleeping with who. It is about selling newspapers.”

Watch the whole fiery confrontation below.