Journalist in court on phone hacking charges

THE Royal editor of the News of the World made his first court appearance yesterday on charges of mobile phone hacking.

Clive Goodman, who has been suspended from his job, is accused of one count of conspiring to intercept voicemail messages and eight counts of intercepting voicemail messages.

The offences are alleged to have taken place between January 1 last year and August 9 this year.

Goodman, 48, from Putney, west London, was released on unconditional bail until his next hearing at the Old Bailey in November.

He was arrested on August 8 following claims by members of Prince Charles’s household that security breaches had taken place within its phone network.

The inquiry led by anti-terror detectives at Scotland Yard is now said to be examining whether other public figures may also have had their mobiles hacked.

Glenn Mulcaire, 35, from Sutton, who faces the same charges as Goodman, was and also released on unconditional bail.