Report: Kate Middleton among targets in UK hacking scandal
(CBS) The list of British elite allegedly targeted in a media hacking scandal apparently now includes a then-unmarried Kate Middleton and former Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Just days after Rupert Murdoch's News of the World tabloid formally apologized to actress Sienna Miller for hacking into her cell-phone messages, the mogul's News International media group is reportedly facing new accusations of illegally obtaining information through private investigator Jonathan Rees.
Labour MP Tom Watson said in Parliament on Wednesday that police have information that "strongly suggests" the investigator targeted public figures and members of Britain's royal family, according to CNN.
Metropolitan Police told CNN Thursday that it "has received a number of allegations regarding breach of privacy.... These allegations are currently being considered."
The Guardian reports that Rees' targets included Blair, Middleton (before she married Prince William), Prince Edward and Sophie, Countess of Wessex, and the Duke and Duchess of Kent.
A spokesperson for News International denied the accusations in a statement obtained by The Guardian, adding that it is it is "well documented" that Rees worked for "a whole variety of newspaper groups," and that the company is cooperating with the police investigation.
The statement added that the company had not been asked about Rees' work.
News International has already apologized to a number of celebrities, including Miller, and offered them compensation after admitting it had their phones hacked.
On Tuesday, News Group Newspapers, the News International subsidiary that publishes the News of the World, read a statement offering "sincere apologies" to the actress in London's High Court, and admitted that the information obtained through hacking should never have been published.
Miller, who was reportedly not present for the statement, settled the case for 100,000 pounds ($164,500) in damages last month.
