Another murder case linked to hacking

The investigation into the death of Essex teenager Danielle Jones could be re-examined after the inquiry into the voicemail hacking scandal found evidence that mobile phones linked to her may have been targeted by a private investigator working for the News of the World.

Stuart Campbell, the uncle of the schoolgirl whose body was never found after her disappearance in June 2001, was convicted of her murder in 2002 after a trial in which prosecutors relied on forensic evidence relating to text messages sent from Danielle’s phone.

Scotland Yard is now looking for evidence of mobile phone hacking related to every high-profile murder and abduction of a child since 2001 following claims that the private investigator Glenn Mulcaire and the NOTW hacked into the phone of Milly Dowler, allegedly deleting voicemails.

The parents of Holly Chapman and Jessica Wells, the schoolgirls murdered in Soham, Cambridgeshire, in August 2002, have also been told their voicemails may have been accessed.

Chris Bryant, a Labour MP who has campaigned over the hacking scandal, has told the Commons that evidence suggesting Danielle’s phone and others linked to her were targeted by Mulcaire had been discovered by Operation Weeting, the ongoing inquiry into phone-hacking.

Police sources confirmed details of the phones had been found and said the information was being assessed for any potential impact on the original murder investigation. The revelation came as relatives of victims of the7/7 bombings spoke of their distress at being told that their details had also been found on Mulcaire’s documentation.