Former Employees Claim The Sunday Mirror Hacked Voicemails

People who used to work for the Sunday Mirror claim that voicemail hacking was a common practice at the British tabloid during the first half of the past decade.

The so-called phone or voicemail hacking scandal that led to News of the World being closed down is extending to other publications as well.

Several journalists and former editors said in the past that listening to the voicemail of celebrities who failed to change their default PIN numbers was common in the industry.

BBC's Newsnight program has ran an investigation into the practice at The Sunday Mirror, News of the World's top rival, and quotes an unnamed journalist who used to work for the tabloid after 2001 and claims that this was a daily occurrence.

"One afternoon in the newsroom I saw Liz Hurley's phone being hacked and a reporter listen to her mobile phone messages and take a note of what was said.

"It was a Thursday and I was told that there wasn't much on there - just something about lunch from another woman, so they would keep trying before the weekend to see what they could find," the source said.

It seems there was even some pride associated with being good at it. The one who others considered the best at getting scoops from hacking voicemails was allegedly called the "master of the dark arts."

Even more, the source told BBC that the newspaper hired voiceover artists to imitate celebrities and obtain private information like medical records.

Trinity Mirror Group, the tabploid's owner, denied the accusations and so did CNN TV host Piers Morgan who was the newspaper's editor at the time of the alleged hacking. "I have never hacked a phone, told anyone to hack a phone, or published any story based on the hacking of a phone," he said.