by Kiran Pahwa on Thu, 06/09/2011
London, June 9: The Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, has been named as the highest-profile victim of the celebrity phone-hacking scandal.
It has been revealed that 29-year-old Kate’s mobile phone was hacked throughout 2005, the year she graduated from university, and 2006, and that dozens of attempts had been made to intercept her voicemails.
But the future queen was not the only one, as it was revealed that former Prime Minister Tony Blair, the Earl and Countess of Wessex, former Labour Cabinet ministers Jack Straw and Peter Mandelson and even former Met Police Commissioner Lord Stevens had been victims.
Until now, attention has centred on private investigator Glenn Mulcaire and the News of the World’s royal editor, Clive Goodman, who were jailed in 2007 for their roles in the scandal.
But another private detective, Jonathan Rees, who worked for the Mirror Group and the News of the World, was named as the man who allegedly hacked their phones.
Kate was identified as a victim by the Guardian newspaper’s website and police sources confirmed she was targeted by phone hackers on an “astonishing scale”.
The offences had taken place during 2005 and 2006, when Kate and Prince William were dating and their relationship was the subject of fevered speculation.
It is believed up to 4,000 people were targeted by private investigators working for the News of the World.
“Kate Middleton appears to have been in a league of her own in terms of the amount of hacking attempts made on her mobile phone,” the Daily Mail quoted a security source as saying.
“She was routinely targeted dozens of times a day and on some occasions this figure would reach three figures,” the source stated.
It is not known when Kate was made aware she was a victim. There were suggestions she may have been informed as long ago as 2006.
“It is a police matter and we cannot comment any further,” a Clarence House spokesman added. (ANI)
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