A whistleblower in Britain's phone-hacking scandal, former News of the World reporter Sean Hoare, was found dead at his home yesterday but there appeared to be no suspicious circumstances, police said.
Mr Hoare alleged in interviews with The New York Times newspaper and the BBC last year that the tabloid’s former editor Andy Coulson, who went on to become press chief to British Prime Minister David Cameron, knew about voicemail hacking.
The Guardian newspaper said Mr Hoare had long-term drink and drug problems.
Meanwhile, Britain’s phone-hacking scandal claimed the scalps of two top policeman as Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday cut short a trip to Africa to deal with a crisis that threatens his own position.
Assistant Commissioner John Yates, who refused to reopen an investigation into the now-defunct News of the World tabloid in 2009, resigned yesterday, a day after the departure of his boss Paul Stephenson, chief of London’s Metropolitan Police. Mr Yates had expressed regret last week over his earlier decision that the inquiry into the Rupert Murdoch-owned paper did not need to be revived, but pinned the blame on Mr Murdoch’s empire for failing to cooperate.
“Assistant Commissioner John Yates has this afternoon indicated his intention to resign,” said a Scotland Yard statement. “This has been accepted.”
Mr Yates was one of the Met’s most senior officers and had responsibility for special operations, but came under fire after detectives reopened the investigation this year and found thousands of alleged hacking victims. He quit when he found out he was about to be suspended. As the scandal kept scything through the heart of the British establishment, Mr Cameron’s aides announced that he would cut short a visit to South Africa and Nigeria, flying back this evening instead of early tomorrow.
They said the Conservative leader wanted to prepare a statement that he will deliver during an emergency session of Parliament tomorrow, having delayed the summer break for lawmakers for a day.
Mr Cameron has also been forced to defend his own position after Stephenson, Britain’s most senior police officer, took a swipe at the Prime Minister’s decision to hire former News of the World editor Andy Coulson as his media chief.
Stephenson quit on Sunday over the force’s hiring of Neil Wallis – who was deputy to Mr Coulson at the tabloid – and over a spa break he accepted from a firm where Wallis was a consultant.
“I don’t believe the two situations are the same in any way, shape or form,” Mr Cameron told a joint news conference in Pretoria with South African President Jacob Zuma when asked about a comparison with the troubles at Scotland Yard.