Phone Hacking: What Will Piers Morgan be Asked About?

By Shane Croucher: Subscribe to Shane's

December 19, 2011 9:07 AM EST

Piers Morgan, former editor of the Daily Mirror, is appearing in front of the Leveson Inquiry. Phil McCarten / Reuters
Piers Morgan, former editor of the Daily Mirror, is appearing in front of the Leveson Inquiry. Phil McCarten / Reuters

CNN presenter and former tabloid editor Piers Morgan - or "Piers Moron" if you're a Private Eye reader - will give evidence to the Leveson Inquiry into press standards on December 20, in what promises to be a gripping watch.

Morgan's journalism career is littered with controversy, so Lord Justice Leveson and his counsel will have plenty of reading material in preparation for a grilling.

International Business Times UK looks at what Morgan might be asked about.

The Ulrika Jonsson/Sven Goran Eriksson Affair Scoop

Political blogger Guido Fawkes posted allegations in July that Morgan knew that a scoop by the Daily Mirror under his editorship, about TV presenter Ulrika Jonsson and former England manager Sven Goran Eriksson having an affair, had been obtained by the illegal practise of phone hacking.

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"James 'Scottie' Scott, the Daily Mirror's showbiz reporter at the time [of Morgan's editorship], was listening into Ulrika Jonsson's voicemails when he was flummoxed by messages in her native Swedish," wrote Fawkes.

"As fortune would have it, he was able to get a half-Swedish Mirror secretary to translate the mysterious voicemails ... Morgan decided to let 3AM Girl Jessica Callan break the illegally obtained story under her byline in order to try and rid the column of its banal reputation."

Trinity Mirror denies its journalists hacked phones.

Voicemails from Paul McCartney

Morgan has admitted to listening to voicemails of former Beatle Paul McCartney.

In a 2006 Daily Mail article, Morgan wrote: "At one stage I was played a tape of a message Paul had left for Heather on her mobile phone. It was heartbreaking.

"The couple had clearly had a tiff, Heather had fled to India, and Paul was pleading with her to come back. He sounded lonely, miserable and desperate, and even sang 'We Can Work It Out' into the answerphone."

However, Morgan denies this information was obtained by phone hacking and blamed McCartney's ex-wife Heather Mills, whose voicemail was the one he listened to, for leaking it to the press.

Mills claims her phone was hacked.

This article is copyrighted by IBTimes.co.uk, the business news leader
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