Media executive ‘sickened’ at hacking of his phone by British tabloid newspaper
BBC's Alan Yentob tells High Court he felt ‘invaded’ when informed his phone had been hacked by journalists from the Mirror
A senior BBC executive said on Friday he felt “invaded and sickened” by the revelation that his phone was hacked repeatedly by staff at Britain’s Mirror Group newspapers.
Alan Yentob, the broadcaster’s creative director, told a High Court hearing that he felt “violated on a truly massive scale”.
“It is extremely disturbing to think that these people knew about so many aspects of my personal and professional life and my most private of conversations,” Yentob said.
David Sherborne, a lawyer for hacking victims, has said illegal eavesdropping was “rife” at the Mirror, Sunday Mirror and People newspapers for almost a decade from 1999.
Hacking produced scores of stories, though none was about Yentob. Sherborne said journalists intercepted Yentob’s voicemail messages for information on his high-profile friends, who included musician Sting, comedian Mel Brooks, writer Salman Rushdie, architect Richard Rogers and celebrity cook Nigella Lawson.
