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Piers Morgan was questioned under caution by police investigating Mirror phone hacking allegations

By HUGO GYE
Piers Morgan has been interviewed under caution by police investigating allegations of phone-hacking at Mirror newspapers, it emerged today.

The CNN presenter was questioned by Operation Golding police in December last year, and has also provided a witness statement to the investigation.

Morgan, 48, has always denied any knowledge of phone hacking at either the News of the World or the Daily Mirror, both of which he has edited.


He told the Guardian today: 'In early November I was asked to attend an interview by officers from Operation Weeting when I was next in the UK.

'This was further to a full witness statement I had already freely provided. I attended that interview as requested on 6 December 2013.'

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: 'A 48-year-old man who is a journalist was interviewed under caution on December 6 2013 by officers from Operation Golding in connection with suspected conspiracy to intercept telephone voicemails.

'He was interviewed by appointment at a south London police station. He was not arrested.
'Operation Golding is a strand of Operation Weeting and is specifically investigating allegations of phone interception at Mirror Group Newspapers.'

Morgan, 48, was appointed as editor of News of the World in 1994, and moved to the Daily Mirror two years later.

He resigned from the Mirror in 2004 when it emerged that the paper had published fake photographs supposedly showing British soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners.

Morgan has since moved into the world of TV, presenting a nightly news programme on CNN in the U.S. as well as an interview show for ITV.

The ex-editor gave evidence to the Leveson Inquiry in which he said that phone hacking had not taken place at the Mirror and denied any knowledge of the practice within the newspaper industry.

However, Jeremy Paxman told the inquiry that Morgan had told him how to hack a phone during lunch at the Mirror's offices in 2002.

And in 2006, Morgan wrote about listening to a voicemail message left by Paul McCartney on the phone of then wife Heather Mills.

Sir Brian Leveson's report on the inquiry's findings said that there was no evidence that the editor authorised phone hacking.

Operation Weeting was launched in January 2011, since when 37 people have been arrested and questioned over allegations of hacking at the News of the World and elsewhere.

Seven people, including former NOTW editors Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, are currently on trial charged with allegations include hacking.

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