London's Metropolitan Police is to examine new evidence of phone hacking by journalists at Rupert Murdoch's News of the World newspaper, following publication of a detailed report in the New York Times.
Met assistant commissioner John Yates said today officers will work with the Crown Prosecution Service to review the evidence.
It includes a statement by former reporter Sean Hoare that the newspaper's former editor, Andy Coulson, now British prime minister David Cameron's communications chief, asked him to tap phones.
Mr Coulson has said he did not know hacking was taking place.
"We've been in touch with the New York Times for many months seeking any new evidence or material they have," Mr Yates told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "They've now published this, it is new and we will be considering it."
This is the second time police and prosecutors have reviewed the case following media reports. In July 2009, the Guardian newspaper reported that News Group Newspapers, part of Mr Murdoch's News Corp, paid £700,000 (€837,000) to a victim of phone hacking by a journalist at the News of the World.
Mr Coulson has agreed to meet police to be questioned about the new evidence, his office in London said in a statement issued to the Press Association.
"Mr Coulson emphatically denies these allegations," the statement said. "He has, however, offered to talk to officers if the need arises and would welcome the opportunity to give his view on Mr Hoare's claims."
Mr Cameron's spokesman, Steve Field, repeatedly refused to say at a briefing with journalists in London today whether the prime minister believes Mr Coulson, instead saying he "accepts" his statement.
"The reports that have been in the media at the weekend don't change anything for the prime minister," Mr Field said.
The News of the World's former royal reporter, Clive Goodman, and Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator, were jailed in 2007 for hacking the mobile phones of prominent people after a previous police investigation. Mr Coulson resigned, saying he had no knowledge of the activities.
The Guardian reported that the practice of phone hacking, in which voice messages were intercepted, went far beyond Goodman and Mulcaire. The New York Times said everyone at the paper, "even the office cat," knew about it.
Former Labour Party deputy prime minister John Prescott has called for a judicial review of the first police investigation. Mr Yates told the BBC that inquiry was conducted properly.
The News of the World rejected allegations of widespread wrongdoing and said the story in the New York Times contained no new credible evidence.
"The story the New York Times published contained no new credible evidence and relied heavily on anonymous sources, contrary to the paper's own editorial guidelines," it said in a statement. "In so doing they have undermined their own reputation and confirmed our suspicion their story was motivated by commercial rivalry."
Bloomberg