News of the World 'put hacking lawyers under surveillance'

The News of the World hired a former police officer last year to carry out surveillance on two lawyers representing victims of phone hacking, it has emerged.

The BBC's Newsnight programme says that Derek Webb, who ran a firm of private investigators called Silent Shadow, followed lawyers Mark Lewis and Charlotte Harris.

Harris and Lewis have both been prominent lawyers in the phone hacking scandal, representing the publicist Max Clifford and Professional Footballers' Association boss Gordon Taylor respectively in their hacking cases against the paper.

Lewis also represented the family of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, who recently secured a £2m settlement from News of the World publisher News International.

The Guardian reports that Webb had secretly videoed Lewis and Harris, along with their families and associates as part of a drive to gather evidence for smear campaigns against the lawyers.

It is thought that the now defunct News of the World wanted to show that Lewis was having a relationship with Harris, and he was sharing confidential information with her - a false allegation.

The News of the World took specialist advice to prevent Lewis from representing more victims of hacking, and tried to persuade one of his former clients to sue him, says The Guardian.

Neither Harris nor Lewis commented on the report, but friends told the newspaper that they view it as "blackmail" and could sue the News of the World over breach of privacy.

The surveillance of Lewis and Harris is understood to have occurred over the past 18 months, during James Murdoch's tenure as executive chairman of News International.

On Thursday, Murdoch is due to appear in front of the Commons culture, media and sport select committee again to give more evidence over phone hacking.

Murdoch is facing serious questions over his knowledge of phone hacking practices, after statements he made to the MPs in July were contradicted by various sources.

Meanwhile, former Creation Records boss Alan McGee revealed yesterday that he may have been a hacking target, saying journalists could have intercepted rambling messages from Courtney Love.