Hacking trial told phone voicemails accessed thousands of times

Detective Constable Richard Fitzgerald examined billing data from private investigator Glenn Mulcaire’s phone, two communal lines at the News of the World and the phone of former royal editor Clive Goodman.

Data from 191 days in 2005 and 2006 showed Mulcaire made 1,450 calls to 87 different voicemails plus messages accessed via an Orange platform to 45 numbers, Det Con Fitzgerald told the Old Bailey.

He also examined call data from two News International internal phones between 2004 and 2006 which showed a combined 4,714 calls to 98 voicemails, he said.

There were more calls made to access messages of 37 customers via the Orange platform, the jury was told.

Data from Goodman’s home number showed 649 calls to 14 voicemail numbers between January 2005 to August 2006, the officer said.

The jury was told the trial of the Murdoch newspaper’s former editor Andy Coulson and six others defendants could last until May.

Coulson, 46, of Charing, Kent denies conspiring to hack phones with former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks, 45, of Churchill, Oxfordshire and the tabloid’s ex-managing editor Stuart Kuttner, 73, from Woodford Green, Essex.

He also denies two allegations that he conspired with Goodman, 56, from Addlestone in Surrey, and other unknown people to commit misconduct in public office. All seven deny the charges.

The case continues.