Actor and comedian wins court order forcing Metropolitan police to hand over copies of notes made by Glenn Mulcaire

This article is more than 9 years old

This article is more than 9 years old

Steve Coogan's mobile phone number and account details were found in a notepad belonging to Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator who worked for the News of the World, the high court heard today.

The actor and comedian won a court order forcing the Metropolitan police to hand over copies of notes made by Mulcaire, which were seized in a 2006 raid on his home in Surrey.

Coogan, who was not in court, is suing Mulcaire and the paper's publisher, News International subsidiary News Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's media empire, for breach of privacy for allegedly hacking into voicemail messages left on his mobile phone.

Mulcaire and News Group deny Coogan's allegations.

In his ruling granting the order today the judge, Mr Justice Roth, said: "Mr Coogan has ... grounds for suspicion he is a victim of phone hacking."

The judge read out the contents of a letter to Coogan from the Metropolitan police in May 2010, in which Scotland Yard confirmed it had "some documents in our possession" that could show that Mulcaire hacked into his phone. They included Coogan's name, mobile phone number and account details, the letter stated.

Coogan is the latest public figure to apply for a court order in an attempt to obtain Mulcaire's documents from the Met and use them as the basis for a legal claim.

Sky Sports commentator Andy Gray, who was sacked yesterday after making sexist comments about a female match official, is also suing.

Actress Sienna Miller, publicist Nicola Phillips and football agent Sky Andrew are also pursuing claims, which are at a more advanced stage than Coogan's case.

Coogan's lawyers expect to receive copies of Mulcaire's notes in a matter of weeks.

They could cast further doubt on the News of the World's insistence that phone hacking was not widespread at the paper.

Mulcaire was jailed for illegally intercepting voicemails belonging to members of the royal household in January 2007 along with Clive Goodman, the paper's former royal editor.

The paper said Goodman was acting alone and without the knowledge of executives. But that claim was cast into doubt last month when it suspended Ian Edmondson, its associate editor (news).

Edmondson was subsequently named by Mulcaire in court documents as the man who ordered him to hack into Sky Andrew's phone.

Mulcaire was in the habit of writing the name of the News of the World executive who commissioned him in the top left hand corner of his notes. In notebooks obtained in the Andrew case, he wrote "for Ian" in the margins. Lawyers representing Andrew contends that is a reference to Ian Edmondson.

The fact Mulcaire had written "for Clive" in the corner of notes relating to members of the royal household helped secure Goodman's conviction along with the private investigator in 2007.

It emerged in the libel trial of Scottish politician Tommy Sheridan last year that Mulcaire had also written "for Greg" on a different set of notes. Sheridan claimed that was a reference to Greg Miskiw, a former investigative reporter at the News of the World.

In a high court hearing earlier this month relating to Gray's action, it emerged the name "Greg" also appeared in notes made by Mulcaire, which included Gray's mobile number, password and account details.

If the name of another News of the World reporter or executive is written in the notes Mulcaire made about Coogan, it could make it more difficult for News Group to argue that hacking was only carried out by a small number of employees at the paper.

The paper's former editor, Andy Coulson, resigned as David Cameron's director of communications last week, saying continuing coverage of the hacking scandal made it impossible for him to do his job.

Coulson resigned as editor when Goodman and Mulcaire were jailed in January 2007 but insisted he knew nothing about their activities.

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