Reporter claims 'People' hacked phones of celebrities

The telephones of the TV presenters Ulrika Jonsson and Noel Edmonds and the nanny of footballer David Beckham's children, Abbie Gibson, were "hacked" by journalists on the People newspaper, according to allegations made by a reporter on the title.

In a never-used witness statement for an employment tribunal, David Brown claimed phone hacking was common among his colleagues, according to a report by Sky News.

His statement, from 2007, says that when News of the World's former royal editor, Clive Goodman, was jailed in 2006, Mirror Group executives ordered that anyone on their titles should deny any accusations. Yesterday Trinity Mirror said the accusations were unsubstantiated: "All our journalists work within the criminal law and the Press Complaints Commission Code of conduct. We have seen no evidence to suggest otherwise."

Mr Brown was fired from the People in April 2006 for gross misconduct; he sued, but settled out of court.