GORDON RAMSAY TURNS UP BURNERS ON HACKERGATE

Hells Kitchen TV chef Gordon Ramsay has joined the widening list of British celebrities and politicians linked to the telephone-hacking scandal involving Rupert Murdoch’s Sunday tabloid, News of the World. The London Independent reported today (Friday) that Ramsay’s name appeared on a list of celebrities, together with their phone numbers, account numbers and PIN codes, collected by private eye Glenn Mulcaire, who was convicted two years ago of illegally accessing the voicemails of princes William and Harry and providing information about them to a News of the World reporter who was convicted as well. Also today, former deputy prime minister John Prescott said that he intends to take legal action against Scotland Yard for its handling of the hacking investigation. Prescott, now a member of the House of Lords, said on his website that police had declined to disclose details of the information about him that they obtained when they searched Mulcaire’s office. “In view of their refusal to hand over this information, it is my intention to apply to the administrative court to seek a judicial review of the Metropolitan Police’s [Scotland Yard] handling of this case,” he said. Prescott’s statement was immediately rebuked by the Scotland Yard officer in charge of the investigation, who called it “just another episode of Lord Prescott’s rants. … He was on a list, along with lots of other celebrities and well-known people, held by a journalist — and that’s no different to a contact list that’s being held by any other journalist,” former assistant commissioner Andy Hayman said in a radio interview. Meanwhile, two former NoW reporters who claim that phone hacking was rife at the tabloid and that the then-editor Andy Coulson, who is now chief spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron, knew about it, have said that when they attempted to tell police what they knew, they were cautioned that their words could be used against them in a court of law. One of the former reporters, Sean Hoare, who told his story to the New York Times, told reporters that following the warning, he informed police that he would be unable to help them. The other, Paul McMullan, told the Guardian newspaper that he had previously cooperated with police regarding investigative reports he had written. “It is pathetic that they ask to interview me now under caution,” he said. “If they want to treat me as a suspect, they will have to arrest me.”