Kate Middleton's Voicemail 'Rung By News Of The World At Rate Of Nearly Once A Day', Hacking Trial Hears

News Of The World 'Rang Kate Middleton's Voicemail Nearly Every Day'
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The News Of The World (NoTW) rang Kate Middleton's voicemail at a rate of nearly once a day for more than a year, the trial of one of its former senior journalists has heard.

Between January 2005 and August 2006 - a 608-day period - the paper is said to have called her voicemail 493 times, nearly five times more often than Prince William.

The claim was tweeted by former Independent journalist turned freelancer Martin Hickman, who is covering the trial of Neil Wallis.

Wallis, who was deputy editor of the paper from 2003 to 2007 and then executive editor until he stood down in 2009, is accused of conspiring to hack phones.

The paper also accessed the voicemails of royal aides - one of them more often than they called Kate Middleton's.

Hickman crowd-funded his coverage of the trial, which is taking place at the Old Bailey. He is live-tweeting proceedings and writing regular round-ups.

In an article filed today, he reported how Wallis decried his "endless bail", having been first arrested and bailed in connection with phone hacking in 2011, the year the NoTW was shut after the hacking allegations erupted into a public scandal.

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Neil Wallis outside court

Writing on The Huffington Post UK in 2013, Wallis decried the length of time arrested journalists had spent on bail.

Last week, the trial's first, the court heard evidence that Wallis "knew" about phone hacking while he was at the NoTW.

Prosecutor Julian Christopher told the jury: "The prosecution alleges, that he knew it was being done and agreed that it should be done."

The jury heard how Andy Coulson, the editor between 2003 and 2007, had been convicted of conspiring to hack phones after a long trial last year.

Testifying today, Wallis said he would not get involved in the "detail" of the stories the paper was publishing.

Wallis denies one charge of conspiracy to intercept voicemail communications. The trial continues.