A key aide to Prime Minister David Cameron will be questioned by police over allegations a major British tabloid illegally eavesdropped on politicians and celebrities - including the British princes, a senior Scotland Yard officer said Tuesday.
Assistant police commissioner John Yates told a parliamentary committee that Cameron's communications director Andy Coulson, the newspaper's former editor, is expected to meet with investigators after they look into new allegations made by an ex-reporter.
Coulson quit as editor of the 3 million-circulation weekly News of The World in 2007 after the newspaper's royal reporter was convicted of hacking phone voicemail messages and jailed, along with a private investigator.
The pair were found to have accessed voice messages left for royal officials, including some from Princes William and Harry.
Coulson has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, or knowing that hacking cell phones was widespread among his former staff.
In an article published Sunday, the New York Times quoted a former reporter, Sean Hoare, and other unnamed ex-staff as claiming that Coulson had in fact been aware of the practice.
Yates said that police would soon speak with Hoare, who was fired from the tabloid, and discuss with prosecutors whether their inquiry should be reopened.
He said officers would also speak with Coulson, who has said he is willing to meet with investigators. "At some stage, I imagine we would be seeing him in some capacity," Yates told the committee.
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