Paul McCartney To Call Police Over Hacking Claims

Macca To Call Police Over Alleged Hacker

PRESS ASSOCIATION -- Sir Paul McCartney has reportedly said that he plans to contact police over allegations that his voicemail messages were intercepted.

His remark came after his ex-wife Heather Mills claimed a senior Mirror Group journalist admitted hacking voicemails left for her by the former Beatle.

Sir Paul is believed to have told an association of TV journalists in the American city of Cincinnati that the allegation that Ms Mills's phone had been hacked is something he wants to speak to police about.

In comments to the Television Critics Association delivered via a video feed, he said: "Apparently I have been hacked."

This came after Ms Mills told BBC2's Newsnight programme that the Mirror Group journalist made the admission in 2001. The BBC, which declined to name the journalist allegedly involved, said it was not Piers Morgan, who was editor of the Daily Mirror at the time.

But the message in question appeared to be the same as one which Mr Morgan later admitted listening to, a spokesman for the programme said. In a 2006 article in the Daily Mail, Mr Morgan referred to hearing a recorded message which Sir Paul had left for Ms Mills, the spokesman said. He wrote: "At one stage I was played a tape of a message Paul had left for Heather on her mobile phone."

Mr Morgan issued a statement describing Ms Mills's claims as "unsubstantiated".

But the Culture Committee chairman has called for Mr Morgan to return to the UK to answer "some very serious questions" over allegations of phone hacking,

Conservative MP John Whittingdale said Mr Morgan could be quizzed by the Metropolitan Police on the basis of recent evidence. He said Mr Morgan would not immediately be called in front of the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee, which is investigating phone hacking, because the police inquiry "has to be the priority".

Meanwhile it emerged that the publisher of the Daily Mail is reviewing its editorial controls. Associated Newspapers said its head of editorial legal services, Liz Hartley, will be carrying out the review, but sources close to the publisher said it is not connected with the phone hacking scandal and is instead a "routine assessment".

Close

What's Hot