Thaindian News

London, Jan 16 (ANI): Ex-England footballer Paul Gascoigne has joined a list of celebrities who will sue the News of the World tabloid for allegedly hacking his phone.

His solicitor, Gerald Shamash, claimed that Gascoigne was a victim of the phone-hacking scandal that has rocked Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, adding that proceedings would be issued within days.

He further said that he was initiating proceedings against a private investigator, Glenn Mulcaire. It is believed that hundreds or even thousands of phones were hacked by Mulcaire, while he was working for the newspaper.

Mulcaire and former News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman were jailed in 2007 for hacking phones.

Shamash claimed that Gascoigne was in a vulnerable mental state and that his recovery had been hindered because of the stress of believing that his phone had been hacked, adding: “It has made things even more difficult for his general wellbeing.”

Gascoigne has been fighting drink and drug problems for years and also visiting rehabilitation clinics to give up his habits.

Paul Farrelly MP, a member of the parliamentary culture, media and sport select committee that conducted an investigation into the allegations, said he was concerned that the Met had adopted a new policy towards requests for information from suspected victims.

Earlier, people could request that the Met scour its files to establish whether their phone had been hacked. Now Scotland Yard asks for a suspected victim to outline on what grounds they believe their phone has been hacked before making a search.

“We found great fault with the police investigation and to that we can add the conduct of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which simply rubber stamps the Met’s totally inadequate handling of the affair,” Farrelly added.

On Friday, the Director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer, announced on Friday that the CPS had agreed to conduct a “comprehensive assessment” of all material held by Scotland Yard relating to phone hacking. (ANI)