Ex-News of the World reporter, who blew the whistle on phone hacking, found dead

A former News of the World journalist, who publicly spoke about the newspaper's phone hacking last year, was found dead Monday, The Guardian reported.

Sean Hoare, a showbiz reporter for the now-defunct paper, was found dead at his U.K. home. Police had not confirmed that it was him, but released a statement:

"At 10.40 a.m. today police were called to Langley Road, Watford, following the concerns for the welfare of a man who lives at an address on the street. Upon police and ambulance arrival at a property, the body of a man was found. The man was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after."

The police added that Hoare's death is not thought to be suspicious and that investigations are still ongoing.

Hoare was fired from the newspaper due to drug and alcohol problems. Last fall, he told The New York Times that then-News of the World editor Andy Coulson encouraged him to continue phone hacking. Coulson said that the time that he was unaware of what was going on.

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Recently, Hoare told The Guardian about the practice of "pinging," in which reporters would ask a news desk executive to get the location of the target.

"You'd just go to the news desk and they'd just come back to you," said Hoare. "You don't ask any questions. You'd consider it a job done. The chain of command is one of absolute discipline and that's why I never bought into it, like with Andy saying he wasn't aware of it and all that. That's bollocks."

Hoare also told The Guardian, "There's more to come. This is not going to go away," and that he hoped the scandal will lead to changes in journalism.

[thomasmc1957]

"death is unexplained but not thought to be suspicious" You need no more proof of police corruption than that quote, right there.

[KnowerseekerReturns]

Sounds like he probably died of an overdose if the police aren't suspecting foul play. Either that or the police are covering it up.

[MagnaCartaUK]

This farce should never have happened. There should be no 'links of interest' between politicians, business, the Police or the press. They must all be seperate - and be seen to be. Politicians have abused democracy, the Police have broken their bond of trust with the public, and the press have abused the priviledge of a 'free press' by scratching around for salacious headlines instead of issues that REALY matter. All have let the public down, and thus must answer to judges. This man's death, in light of public suspicions, should be investigated by a fully independent organization. P.M. Cameron, in fact, needs to be answering a few questions himself. The whole business stinks to high heaven.

[Noval53]

Well we all know most accidents happen in the home; or was that murders? I forget.

[1pheasant1]

Sean Hannity is under suicide watch and Alan Colmes looks like the luckiest man alive.

[wdh3007]

What does any of this have to do with Hannity?

[VA_Jill]

He had a history of drug and alcohol abuse, but it does look awfully suspicious. As Dana Carvey would say, "How conVEEEEEEEEEEEEENient!"

[AnnieDanny]

This guy was a "real" whistleblower. Whatever it is that Wikileaks does is something else.

[Middle_American_Man]

I'm verrry verrry suspicious when the whistleblower turns up dead at precisely the right time for RM and Company, and it's completely typical for those in power to discredit someone by saying "oh ignore him, he's just a drunk." Either way, wow, what a total PR disaster. This could theoretically destroy both the media empire and Cameron's government.

[ARoyalPayne]

Remember Marcy Park - Vince Foster and Ron Brown and plane crashes mmm, mmm, mmm!

[lasvegasteacher]

Murder? The police did not say. Odd they would not tell how he died.
The people running the Murdoch empire are looking more and more like mobsters.

[texbelle123]

I guess this shows us how far Rupart Murdoch will go.