According to former New York police officer News of the World reporters tried to hack the voicemails of dead 9/11 victims
According to former New York police officer News of the World reporters tried to hack the voicemails of dead 9/11 victimsA New York police officer has claimed besieged British tabloid the News of the World attempted to hack into the voicemails of victims of the 9/11 terror attacks, as Rupert Murdoch arrived in London for emergency talks aimed at diffusing the international crisis surrounding his media empire.
James and his father Rupert Murdoch leave their residence to have a
sit-down with former editor Rebekah Brooks, who is now offering to
speak to Scotland Yard as witness
The officer was contacted by News of the World journalists who said they would pay him to retrieve the private phone records of the dead.
Now working as a privateu00a0 investigator, the ex-officer claimed reporters wanted the victims' phone numbers and details of the calls they had made and received in the days leading up to the atrocity.
A source said, "This investigator is used by a lot of journalists in America and he recently told me that he was asked to hack into the 9/11 victims' private phone data.
He said that the journalists asked him to access records showing the calls that had been made to and from the mobile phones belonging to the victims and their relatives. The PI said he had to turn the job down. He knew how insensitive such research would be, and how bad it would look."
The investigator said the journalists seemed particularly interested in getting the phone records belonging to the British victims of the attacks.
Murdoch made a mercy dash to London on the weekend as his News Corporation company shares took a dive and his takeover plans for Britain's digital broadcasting network, BSkyB, appeared in tatters.
Nine reporters allegedly at the centre of the phone scandal and claims of police corruption could face jail, along with three officers.
Harry Potter linkClaims of Rebekah Brooks demanding Harry Potter correspondent Charles Begley to dress up as the boy wizard has gone viral on the Internet. The article claims that Begley, was summoned into the office on the afternoon of September 11, 2001, and rebuked by Brooks for not being "in character" andu00a0 told to come in for the following day in full Harry Potter gear.
Royal informationNews of the World bought information about senior members of the Royal Family from a royal protection officer, it was claimed. E-mails uncovered by News International in 2007 showed that contact details of the royals, their friends and relations were bought from the Royal Protection Office.t One e-mail includes a request by a reporter for ufffd1,000 (Rs 70,800) to pay officers for information.
