ROYAL BUGGING TRIAL ( 2007 )

Ex-News of the World royal editor jailed for royal phone bug plot

 

DAILY MAIL online

26 January 2007

 

Clive Goodman: Ex-News of the World editor jailed for 600 bugged phone calls

News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman was today jailed for four months at the Old Bailey for plotting to hack into Royal aides' telephone messages.
The senior journalist on Britain's biggest-selling newspaper hacked into the mobile telephones of members of the royal household "several hundred" times, a London court heard.
The News of the World's royal affairs editor Clive Goodman listened to voice mail messages left for the press secretary of heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles and also for two officials who worked for his son's Princes William and Harry.
Goodman, 49, and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, 36, were both given custodial sentences after admitting last November to plotting to unlawfully intercept communications.
Mulcaire, was given a sixth-month sentence after he pleaded guilty to a further five charges of unlawfully intercepting voicemail messages.
London's Old Bailey court heard the duo had begun a "relatively sophisticated" scheme to bug Charles's Clarence House residence in London in December 2005.
They had also tapped the phones of Australian supermodel Elle McPherson, a member of parliament and the head of England's Professional Footballer's Association, the court heard.
"The prosecution case is simple, (they) were motivated by profit and personal gain," said prosecutor David Perry.
"Their conduct amounted to a gross invasion of the victims and the public abuse of the telephone system."
The scam was uncovered after minor stories appearing about the princes aroused suspicion in the royal household and staff became concerned their phones were being monitored.
The paper suspended Goodman after he was charged last August and he apologised to Prince Charles and his sons William and Harry for a "gross invasion of privacy".
Neither Goodman or Mulcaire commented as they entered court for sentencing.
The reporter enjoyed a string of exclusives about Princess Diana in the 1990s. Colleagues dubbed the office-bound reporter the "eternal flame" because he never went out.
Snooping on the royals has been a rich source of scoops for the scandal-hungry tabloids.
In the early 1990s, their pages were plastered with transcripts of the "Squidgygate" and "Camillagate" tapes - recordings of Charles and his then-wife Diana talking intimately to their lovers.
Earlier this month, Prince William called on the media to stop pursuing his girlfriend, Kate Middleton, after photographers and film crews camped outside her house as rumours grew that the couple would announce their engagement.