Phone Hacking: confirmed victims 'total about 800', says police inquiry chief

The final number of victims who had their phones hacked by the News of the World is likely to be about 800, the head of the police inquiry has said.

Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers  

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers, who heads Operation Weeting, said that she was confident her officers had met all the alleged victims of the now defunct-newspaper.

The victims, she said, included those who either had, phone messages intercepted by the former Sunday tabloid or were likely to have been.

Mrs Akers, who is in charge of out 50 officers who are working on the Scotland Yard operation, said that as of Tuesday police had contact 803 people ranging from public figures such Wayne Rooney, the Manchester United footballer, and Sienna Miller, the British actress.

She told The Times that a further 1,200 people have contacted detectives but officers do not believe they have been hacked or are not named in the notebooks seized from Glenn Mulcaire, a private detective hired by the newspaper.

“We are confident we have personally contacted all the people who have been hacked or are likely to have been hacked,” she told the newspaper.

“But there is a raft of people still to be spoken to who are potential targets, but are unlikely to have been hacked.”
It also reported that the hacking investigation is seeking more resources to cope with the increased workload, which is working at break-neck speed.
The operation’s workload is increasing due to the success of identifying confirmed phone hacking victims.
The Metropolitan Police expects to spend up to £4 million a year on Operation Weeting and other investigations into computer hacking and bribing police officers.
Meanwhile an external review of Operation Weeting, led by Jon Stoddart, the Chief Constable of Durham, has been completed and is understood to have made 30 recommendations.
The three-month review, which was ordered by Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, is believed to be critical of some practices and processes, the paper said.
Operation Weeting was established in January this year and no one has been charged as yet as it approaches its first anniversary.