2ND British editor resigns over royal phone tapping


dpa German Press Agency
Published: Friday January 26, 2007

London- The editor of one of Britain's leading tabloid
newspapers resigned Friday after a top royal reporter was jailed for
four months for illegally tapping into more than 600 mobile phone
messages of aides of the royal family.
Andy Coulson, who has been editor of the News of the World, a
Sunday tabloid owned by Rupert Murdoch, since 2003, said he took
responsibility for the "scandal" over phone interception.

Earlier, a judge at London's Old Bailey Criminal Court sentenced
Clive Goodman, the former royal editor of the News of the World, to
jail, saying: "This was low conduct, reprehensible in the extreme."

"This case is not about press freedom. It is about grave,
inexcusable and illegal invasion of privacy," added the judge.

"The targets were members of the royal family. The royal family
holds a unique position in the life of this country. It is grave
indeed," the judge said in his ruling.

Goodman, 49, who was once regarded one of Britain's top royal
reporters, had earlier pleaded guilty to the charges and was
suspended from his post.

His private royal investigator, 36-year-old Glenn Mulcaire, who
received six-figure sums for his research work, was sentenced to six
months.

Both men had earlier admitted conspiracy to hack into the phone
messages, including some from Prince William, over a period of eight
months between November 2005 and June 2006.

"Research" relating to Prince Harry, his girlfriend Chelsy Davy
and Sarah Ferguson, the ex-wife of Prince Andrew, was also entered on
Mulcaire's expense accounts.

The lawyers for both men had earlier apologized to the princes
and their father, Prince Charles, for their clients' conduct.

"The defendants' motivation was profit and personal gain and their
conduct amounted to gross invasion of privacy and the abuse of the
public telephone system," the court was told.

The court also heard that supermodel Elle McPherson had her home
checked for surveillance devices after suspecting that her phone
messages were hacked into by Mulcaire.

It is hoped that the case, the first of its kind against
journalists in Britain, will in future deter the tabloid press from
using illegal and intrusive methods to gain information, commentators
have said.

© 2006 - dpa German Press Agency