Britain’s Mirror newspapers dragged into phone-hacking scandal

One British newspaper has already been felled by the escalating scandal over the interception of public figures’ voice mails.
Now storm clouds are gathering over the Trinity Mirror group, the publisher of Britain’s left-leaning Mirror tabloid, amid allegations that phone hacking was rife there as well.
James Hipwell, (pictured) who used to work at the Mirror, said hacking was a common tactic among his former colleagues.
“It was seen as a bit of a wheeze, slightly underhand but something many of them did,” James Hipwell was quoted as saying by The Independent on Saturday.
“After they’d hacked into someone’s mobile they’d delete the message so another paper couldn’t get the story,” Hipwell said.
The allegation isn’t exactly new. Hipwell, who was fired from the Mirror in 2000, first aired the claim nearly a decade ago. His dismissal from the Mirror, coupled with a conviction for market manipulation several years later, may have also gone some way toward denting his credibility.