Court hears Sven-Goran Eriksson had his phone hacked

London: Sven-Goran Eriksson had his phone hacked by the News of the World for most of his reign as England football manager, a court heard on Wednesday.

A private investigator working for the tabloid targeted him for four years, listening to messages about his fling with Football Association secretary Faria Alam as well as discussions on players.

The Old Bailey heard that Glenn Mulcaire was paid £100,000 (Dh590,421) to hack phones by the tabloid and was tasked with intercepting the England boss’s voicemails between May 2002 and June 2006.

During that time Eriksson, now 65, became the subject of several high profile stories, including one about his affair with Alam.

Police found scrawled notes detailing Alam’s London address, phone number and references to resetting the personal identification number of her voicemail box in June 2004. A month later, the News of the World broke the story of “Sven’s secret affair” featuring salacious details about their romance.

It was followed a week later with the story that Alam was also sleeping with FA executive Mark Palios.

The prosecution pointed to a number of alleged incidents of hacking, claiming each had occurred shortly before a major story about Eriksson in the News of the World.

In January 2006, Mulcaire hacked his phone five times in three days, the court heard.

Two days later, Eriksson was exposed in a sting by News of the World undercover reporter Mazher Mahmood, known as the Fake Shaikh, who duped the manager into making a string of indiscreet remarks about his future as England boss. Earlier, the court heard that on April 12, 2002 a mystery woman claiming to be the mother of Milly Dowler called a recruitment agency the News of the World suspected of employing the missing 13-year-old.

This was after Mulcaire had hacked Milly’s voicemails and found a message about a job interview which had been left in error by agency staff.

A team of reporters chasing the false lead camped outside the home of the agency boss, the Old Bailey heard. Valerie Hancox said a co-worker received a call from a woman who said: “We know what’s going on with Milly Dowler and we believe she’s working for you. I’m her mother and I want to know where she is.”

Milly’s parents were not told about the News of the World story until April 13, so her mother could not be the caller. Milly’s body was discovered five months later. She had been abducted and murdered.

Former News of the World editors Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, both 45, former head of news Ian Edmondson, 44, and the tabloid’s former managing editor Stuart Kuttner, 73, all deny conspiring with others to hack phones.

Brooks further denies two allegations of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice — one with her former personal assistant Cheryl Carter, 49, and a second with her husband Charles, 50, and former News International head of security Mark Hanna, 50. They also deny the charges.

Brooks denies two counts of conspiring to commit misconduct in public office, linked to alleged inappropriate payments to public officials.

Coulson denies two allegations that he conspired with the News of the World’s former royal editor Clive Goodman, 56, to commit misconduct in public office.

The trial continues.