David Beckham's voicemail was tapped by tabloid reporters, according to a journalist jailed for his role in the phone hacking scandal.

The former England captain's phones were hacked as part of investigations into an alleged affair, former News of the World news editor Greg Miskiw told Channel 4 News.

Miskiw was jailed for six months last year when, along with others, he admitted one general count of conspiring together and with others to illegally access voicemails between October 2000 and August 2006.

Referring to the alleged affair by the footballer, which Beckham has denied, Miskiw said: "The David Beckham story, we had to track all these phones.

"From recollection (on that particular story) I don't think we got anything of any significance from doing Beckham's phones."

It is the first public admission that the star's phones were hacked by journalists.
Miskiw also told the programme he discovered that murdered 13-year-old Mill.

Dowler's phone had been hacked when it was revealed by The Guardian.

"I was in Florida at the time and I just lay down on my bed and stared at the fan for a couple of hours thinking how awful. It was like a scene out of a movie. I was just absolutely devastated, absolutely devastated," he said.

Miskiw told the programme he was deeply sorry for damaging the lives of hacking victims. And he added that he believed "absolutely, 100%" that other media groups had hacked phones.

"If I'm a prince of darkness then I'm one of several princes. I'm more of a duke," he said.

Media reform campaigners Hacked Off said what victims of phone hacking and "other forms of press abuse" had always wanted was not journalists going to jail or newspapers closing, but "the full truth to come out".