Just days after the News of the World was forced to apologize to Sienna Millerfor hacking into her voice mails, a new round of famous victims have been identified in News Corp.’s ever-growing and increasingly conspiratorial phone-hacking scandal. Chief among them: everyone’s favorite newlywed, Kate Middleton.
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oday’s royal revelation came as a member of British Parliament urged police to expand their already years-long investigation into the illegal dealings and potential cover-up by Rupert Murdoch’s media empire.
In addition to Kate, former prime minister Tony Blair, Prince Edward and his wife, the Countess of Wessex, the Duke and Duchess of Kent, former Metropolitan police commissioner Sir John Stevens, and his successor John Yates, who as it happens, oversaw the phone-hacking investigation for 19 months.
As for Middleton, her victimization isn’t super recent (though as they’ve proven, News Corp. clearly isn’t above hacking into fully-fledged members of the royal family), but reportedly took place in 2008, while the then-commoner was still just Waity Katie and simply dating Prince William.
In addition to having her voice mails hacked into, her bank account was also said to have been accessed, though it’s unclear what, exactly, the company (who hired out a P.I. to dig up all this illegal dirt on behalf of both the NOTW and the Mirror) did with their surveillance. However, police have not explained (or maybe have not yet fully determined) what the tabloid did with the intel they received—other than use it to fill up the pages of their papers—though they have confiscated a motherload of documents (we’re talking hundreds of thousands here) from the P.I.
For their part, a News International spokesperson was quick to note that the latest round of victim identification came from an M.P. and not (yet) Scotland Yard, and that they believe the allegations to be “wholly inaccurate.” They said that the media empire is “cooperating fully” with the investigation.
In addition to Sienna and Jude Law—until now, the two most famous victims of the scandal, both of whom have launched legal action against News Corp. and P.I. Jonathan Rees—other suspected star targets include Eric Clapton, Mick Jagger and George Michael.
