British princes' cellphones 'hacked into'

LONDON, UK: The mobile phones of British princes William and Harry may have been hacked into by tabloid reporters, a senior British police officer said.

Detective Chief Superintendent Philip Williams of the Metropolitan Police spoke of his suspicion at a hearing Wednesday of the British parliament's select committee on culture, media and sport.

The officer acknowledged that the police had "never been able to prove" their suspicions regarding the two princes' phones.

But pressed about whether they had solid reasons to suspect the princes' personal phones had been hacked into, he replied: "Yes".

Asked if he suspected that journalists had hacked into the princes' mobile phones, Williams said: "Yes, I think they may well have done."

"Their voice mails may well have been intercepted," he said.

The hearing follows reports in The Guardian newspaper in July claiming thousands of public figures had their phones hacked into by reporters from the News of the World tabloid.

The tabloid's reporter covering the royal family was jailed for four months in 2007 for plotting to hack into royal aides' voice mails.

Police officers are now being quizzed on why police had decided not to reopen their investigation into the phone hacking scandal after the Guardian stories.

Assistant Commissioner John Yates said that police had seen no additional evidence since their last investigation in 2007.

©IANS