By CASSANDRA VINOGRAD
Police say Sean Hoare, the whistleblower reporter who alleged widespread hacking at the News of the World, has been found dead. Police said Hoare’s death at his home in England was not considered to be suspicious, according to Britain’s Press Association news agency.
Hoare was quoted by The New York Times as saying that phone-hacking was widely used and even encouraged at the News of the World tabloid under then-editor Andy Coulson. Coulson — who most recently served as Prime Minister David Cameron’s communications chief, was arrested as part of the widening investigation into phone hacking and police corruption.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s tabloid phone hacking scandal walloped the London police force Monday, as the rapid-fire resignations of two top officers were followed by claims of possible illegal eavesdropping, bribery and collusion. U.K officials immediately vowed to investigate.
Prime Minister David Cameron, feeling the political heat from his own close ties to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. media empire, cut short his trip to Africa and called an emergency session of Parliament for Wednesday so he could address lawmakers on the scandal.
The crisis has triggered upheaval in the upper ranks of Britain’s police. Monday’s resignation of Assistant Commissioner John Yates — Scotland Yard’s top anti-terrorist officer — followed that Sunday of police chief Paul Stephenson — both for links to an arrested former executive from Murdoch’s shuttered News of the World tabloid.
The high-profile resignations came on the eve of a highly anticipated televised public grilling of Murdoch and his son James by U.K. lawmakers.
The scandal over Murdoch journalists hacking into cell phones for scoops and paying police for information has taken down top police and media figures with breathtaking speed and knocked billions off the value of Murdoch’s News Corp. The media baron was already forced to shut down the 168-year-old News of the World tabloid, accept the resignations of top deputies in Britain and the U.S. and abandon his dream of taking full control of a lucrative satellite broadcaster, British Sky Broadcasting.
Britain’s police watchdog on Monday said it had received allegations of potential wrongdoing in connection with phone hacking against four senior officers — Stephenson, Yates and two former senior officers. One of the claims is that Yates inappropriately helped get a job for the daughter of former News of the World editor, Neil Wallis, one of 10 people arrested in the scandal.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission said it was looking into the claims. Yates insisted he had done nothing wrong. “I have acted with complete integrity,” he said. “My conscience is clear.” But the government quickly announced an inquiry into police-media relations and corruption.
“Who polices the police?” asked Home Secretary Theresa May as she announced an inquiry into “instances of undue influence, inappropriate contractual arrangements and other abuses of power in police relationships with the media and other parties.”