Byline Investigates has reported today that a private investigator who was paid by The Sun to access personal information about Meghan Markle did so unlawfully.

This alleged conduct would appear to be a continuation of the unlawful conduct of Murdoch newspapers which has been exposed in the phone hacking litigation. It appears that these newspapers have been continuing to access the personal information of individuals in the news with no public interest justification. The private investigator told Byline Investigates that The Sun must have known how he was producing the information and had been paying him for many years for his services using the same methods.

The private investigator, Dan Hanks, has apologised to Meghan Markle and The Queen. The Sun has not.

Nathan Sparkes, Hacked Off Policy Director, said:

“It would not be surprising to anyone who has followed the phone hacking litigation to learn that a national newspaper is continuing to profit from criminal news-gathering activities. The Government’s cancellation of the Public Inquiry into illegal press wrongdoing, Leveson Part Two, has allowed national newspaper companies to escape all accountability for the illegality which has been occurring on their watch. “The Sun should apologise to Meghan Markle, the Queen, and the rest of the Royal family as the private investigator Dan Hanks has done. “For too long the Government has cravenly adapted its policy on the media to meet the interests of the publishers of big newspapers like The Sun, to the detriment of the public, ordinary victims of press abuse and now the Royal family. The Government must now stand up to the press, govern in the interests of the public, and immediately commission Part 2 of the Leveson Inquiry”.

ENDSContact:press@hackinginquiry.org / 07554 665 940