Sven’s phone ‘was hacked repeatedly’

Former England football manager Sven Goran-Eriksson had his voicemails repeatedly hacked by the News of the World, a trial in London heard yesterday.

The now defunct tabloid wrote about the 65-year-old’s affair with FA employee Faria Alam based on hacked messages from Jun 2004, the court heard.

Police also found a recording of an intercepted message left by Everton chairman Bill Kenwright relating to player transfers, said prosecutor Mark Bryant-Heron.

It was among numerous recordings found at the home of private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, who was arrested in Aug 2006 for phone-hacking and jailed the following year.

Eriksson was allegedly targeted for almost all the time he was England manager, between 2001 and 2006.

Meanwhile, Andy Coulson, former editor of News of the World, who is on trial over alleged phone-hacking offences, is honest and would not seek a story “at any cost”, a close friend told the court yesterday.

Dean Keyworth, said he was a loyal friend. “He was very ambitious but he always seemed to have a very pragmatic approach to things. [He] wanted to get stories and do a good job but not at any cost.”

Coulson and former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks are accused of overseeing phone-hacking while they were in charge at the tabloid between 2000 and 2007.

Three former senior journalists have admitted the phone-hacking conspiracy and Mulcaire has pleaded guilty to carrying out the phone-hacking, including tapping the voicemails of missing 13-year-old schoolgirl Milly Dowler, who was later found murdered.

The court has been told how journalists on the paper believed Dowler might have sought work at a factory in Telford, central England, based on a message wrongly left on her phone by a recruitment agency, which the News of the World accessed.

Reporters and photographers were sent to Telford where they approached staff at the agency, falsely purporting to be working with the police, according to witness statements. One woman had phoned the agency, claiming to be Dowler’s mother, the jury heard.