Ex-Mirror journalist Graham Johnson charged with phone hacking

Former Sunday Mirror investigations editor is the second MGN journalist to face charges

Graham Johnson will appear before London's Westminster Magistrates' Court on November 6 (Getty Images)

The best-selling author and former Mirror Group journalist, Graham Johnson, has been charged with phone hacking. The former Sunday Mirror investigations editor is the second MGN journalist to face charges connected to illegal voicemail interception.

The Crown Prosecution Service, which said there was “sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction”, said the alleged offence took place between August and October 2001.

Until two years ago, Trinity Mirror – which now owns the titles – had argued that hacking allegations were “wholly unsubstantiated” and “no wrongdoing” occurred inside Mirror newsrooms.

Mr Johnson worked at the Sunday Mirror between 1997 and 2005. He has been described in Parliament as an “investigative reporter supreme”. He also worked for the News of the World.

At the recent phone hacking trial at the Old Bailey, the former Sunday Mirror and NOTW reporter, Dan Evans, pleaded guilty to hacking and said that he had started it when he was working at the Mirror Group.