Thursday, September 8, 2011

#hackgate : George Michael 'Little creeps in the police who help the press get their scoops'

George Michael
George Michael is the latest celebrity to wade into the phone hacking scandal, after launching a tirade this morning on Twitter which saw him make several allegations about computer hacking and police involvement.

He first focused his attention on the role of Jonathan Rees, a private investigator who was jailed in 2000 for planting cocaine on a woman, and who worked extensively for the News of the World, including under Andy Coulson's editorship.

"In recent years its gone way further than phone hacking...google JOHNATHAN REES [sic]," Michael tweeted.

At his peak, Rees was paid even more than discredited investigator Glenn Mulcaire, and is held by many to have used an even wider range of illegal methods to acquire information, including, according to Michael, computer hacking.

As evidence, Michael told Twitter: "The two photographers who sat outside my house in their cars night after night for several years...were regularly seen with computers open on their laps. I presumed for years that I was under surveillance." .

Michael then went on to finger the police for their involvement in the invasion of celebrities' privacy. "The press would get to my house before I did," he wrote. "On every occasion, some little creep in that police station would have called the press...Cap in hand, and made a nice little wad of cash. I just became resigned to it. Perks of the job in the Met."

Last week, he also revealed on Twitter that Rebekah Brooks, the chief executive of News International, told him personally that "it was never the public who came to [the News of the World] with information...on celebrities, and that the police always got there first".

 He now claims that the police want to question him about any information he might have.

The phone hacking scandal has given many celebrities who suffered at the hands of the News of the World, including Hugh Grant and Steve Coogan, a chance to get their own back.

Michael's involvement has prompted one user to suggest: "So that's Hugh Grant for PM, Steve Coogan to head the new PCC and George Michael as head of the Met now #newsoftheworldorder". 


Read more: http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/81529,people,news,george-michael-weighs-in-on-phone-hacking-scandal#ixzz1XOK5O3AU