British tabloid newspaper the News of the Worldpublicly apologised to members of the royal family today for invading their privacy after a senior journalist admitted a plot to hack into personal phone calls.
The unreserved apology from the paper's editor Andy Coulson and its royal correspondent Clive Goodman came as an Old Bailey court heard details of a phone tapping operation targeting both royals and celebrities.
One of the public figures whose voicemail was intercepted, MP Simon Hughes, condemned the practice.
"I have long held the view that courts should be allowed to deprive those responsible for this sort of behaviour of their liberty because it is a serious offence to interfere with the freedoms of others," he said.
Goodman pleaded guilty in court today to conspiracy to intercept telephone calls "without lawful authority" between November 1st 2005 and August 9th 2006. Goodman (48) from Putney, south-west London, was arrested after claims by members of the Prince of Wales's household of security breaches in its telephone network.
As he sat in the dock, his counsel John Kelsey-Fry QC said he wanted to apologise to members of the royal family concerned.
The barrister told the judge: "He wishes through me to take the first opportunity to apologise publicly to those affected by his actions.
"He accepts they were a gross invasion of privacy and Mr Goodman accepts that this characterisation is correct.
"He therefore apologises unreservedly to the three members of the royal household staff concerned and their principals, Prince William, Prince Harry and the Prince of Wales."
In the dock with Goodman was Glenn Mulcaire (35) a former footballer now private investigator, from south west London, who admitted the same charge.
Mulcaire further admitted five charges of unlawfully intercepting voicemail messages left for publicist Max Clifford; footballer Sol Campbell's agent Skylet Andrew, chairman of the Professional Footballers' Association Gordon Taylor, MP Simon Hughes and the international supermodel Elle Macpherson.
Both men were remanded on unconditional bail for pre-sentence reports — and face jail. The judge warned: "I am not ruling out any options. It's a very serious matter."
Buckingham Palace made no comment.
PA