Whistleblower in phone-hacking scandal found dead: report

Sean Hoare, the first News of the World journalist to link the tabloid’s former editor Andy Coulson to the phone-hacking scandal now enveloping the U.K., has been found dead, the Guardian reports.

The Hertfordshire Constabulary said in a statement that officers were called to a home in the London suburb of Watford at 10:40 a.m. Monday “over concerns for the welfare of a man who lives at an address on the street.” Police say a body was found when they arrived.

The death is being treated as unexplained and is not thought to be suspicious, police said.

In an interview with The New York Times in 2010, Hoare, a former News of the World entertainment reporter, said Coulson not only knew of the widespread phone hacking going on at the tabloid but encouraged his staff in the practice.

Coulson was editor of the News of the World between 2003 and 2007. He went on to become Prime Minister David Cameron’s director of communications but was forced to resign in January when the phone-hacking scandal began to gather traction in the public eye. He was arrested just over a week ago in connection to the scandal, and released on bail.

Hoare told The New York Times he used to play tape recordings of hacked messages for Coulson when they both worked at the Sun. Later, when they both worked at News of the World, Hoare said he kept Coulson abreast of his latest phone-hacking attempts and that Coulson “actively encouraged me to do it.”

Coulson has denied the claims.

In a column Monday, Guardian journalist Nick Davies, the reporter largely responsible for blowing the lid on the phone-hacking scandal at News of the World, described Hoare as “a lovely man.”

“Explaining why he had spoken out, he told me: ‘I want to right a wrong, lift the lid on it, the whole culture. I know, we all know, that the hacking and other stuff is endemic. Because there is so much intimidation. In the newsroom, you have people being fired, breaking down in tears, hitting the bottle,’” Davies wrote.

Hoare was fired from his job at News of the World, reportedly over his drug and alcohol use.

“He made no secret of his massive ingestion of drugs,” wrote Davies. “He told me how he used to start the day with ‘a rock star’s breakfast’ — a line of cocaine and a Jack Daniels — usually in the company of a journalist who now occupies a senior position at the Sun. He reckoned he was using three grams of cocaine a day, spending about £1,000 a week. Plus endless alcohol. Looking back, he could see it had done him enormous damage. But at the time, as he recalled, most of his colleagues were doing it, too.”

Taken From The Star