Rupert Murdoch has agreed to appear before a British parliamentary committee next week to face questions about allegations of phone-hacking at his newspapers.

Commons culture committee chairman John Whittingdale said tonight said that Rupert Murdoch, his son James, and Rebekah Brooks had agreed to give evidence to the committee next Tuesday.

They will answer questions about the growing phone-hacking scandal that has shaken his global television and newspaper empire.

"I think in some ways this is the first sensible thing they have done," John Whittingdale, chairman of the department of culture, media and sport committee, told BBC television.

"They are going to take on their critics and account for themselves in parliament and that is what we wanted them to do, and I am very pleased that they have accepted that invitation.

The latest development comes as Mr Murdoch fights to contain a crisis engulfing his media empire after allegations surfaced that journalists at several of his News Corp papers had targeted former British prime minister Gordon Brown.

In an interview with the BBC, Mr Brown accused Murdoch's News International media group of using criminals to illegally obtain information about his private life and of the shock he felt when it published a story about his baby's ill health.

Mr Murdoch has moved quickly in recent days to try to draw the sting from the rapidly escalating scandal, first closing the 168-year-old tabloid at the heart of the problem and then referring for a prolonged investigation a multi-billion dollar takeover deal that had raised further fears over his media control.

Mr Brown said the Sunday Times newspaper had obtained access to his building society account and other personal files, and said he had seen evidence collated by the Guardian newspaper that News International were using known criminals to obtain private information.

"My tax returns went missing at one point, medical records have been broken into. I don't know how all this happened but I do know ... that in two of these instances there is absolute proof that News International was involved in hiring people to get this information," he said.

"And I do know also that the people that they work with are criminals, criminals with records, criminals who sometimes have records of violence as well as records of fraud."

He said he was devastated when told in 2006 by News International's Sun tabloid that it was to publish a story that his newborn son Fraser had cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease which often leads to an early death for the sufferer.

The Sun was edited at the time by Rebekah Brooks, the chief executive of News International, the UK arm of the News Corp media empire.

He said he was "in tears" about the disclosure. "Your son is going to be broadcast across the media, Sarah and I were incredibly upset about it." News International says it is satisfied the Sun story was obtained from a legitimate source.

"We note the allegations made concerning the reporting of matters relating to Gordon Brown," the company said in a statement and requested information so it can investigate the matter.

Mr Brown said he made no allegations about how the information was obtained, however he was disgusted by recent revelations in the Guardian about the Sunday Times and criminals.

"I have only found out the links between the Sunday Times and what I would call elements of the criminal underworld who were being paid, while known criminals, to do work that was the most disgusting of work not against me only but against people who were completely defenceless."

News International, the British newspaper arm of News Corp, "noted" the allegation and requested more information.

The scandal, which has also included allegations of illegal payments to the police, will also shine a light today on the role some of Britain's most senior police officers took and why they failed to investigate the illegal practices earlier.

Parliament's Home Affairs Committee has begun questioning senior police officers over the hacking scandal.

Appearing before the committee this morning are John Yates, Assistant Commissioner at the Metropolitan Police, who was criticised for deciding in 2009 not to reopen an earlier phone hacking inquiry, and Andy Hayman, the officer in charge of the original inquiry held after two men, one a News of the World journalist, were jailed in 2007 for intercepting the voice mails of royal officials.

The New York Times reported today that five senior British police investigators discovered that their mobile phones also were targeted soon after Scotland Yard opened an initial criminal inquiry of phone hacking by News of the World in 2006.

The disclosure raised questions about whether the police officers had concerns about aggressively investigating the tabloid for fear that their own secrets would be divulged by the paper, the Times said.

"We are not providing a running commentary regarding the investigation," a Metropolitan Police spokesman in London said when asked to comment on the report.

The spotlight on the police however is unlikely to lift the pressure encircling Mr Murdoch and his company, although analysts believe the move yesterday to refer the bid for a full regulatory investigation, and out of the politician arena, was a wise one.

By referring News Corp's bid for the 61 per cent of BSkyB it does not already own to the competition regulator, the government hoped to shield it from a tide of outrage over allegations that News of the World reporters accessed the voice mails of murder and bomb victims and others.

News Corp shares nevertheless closed down about 7.58 per cent at $15.48 in US trading yesterday, for a fall of almost 15 per cent in four days, and the stream of allegations continued.

Conservative prime minister David Cameron has come under fire for his closeness to Mr Murdoch's media empire; he is a friend of Rebekah Brooks, the News International chief executive who was editor at the News of the World during much of the alleged hacking; and he chose another former News of the World editor, Andy Coulson, as his communications chief.

Mr Coulson, who resigned in January over the scandal, was arrested last week for questioning in connection with phone-hacking and allegations that his reporters illegally paid police for information.

Mr Cameron has defended his choice of Mr Coulson and noted Mr Brown's Labour party also courted Mr Murdoch when it was in power.

Reuters