Guardian Journalist Justifies Hacking If in the Public Interest

By: James Robinson | guardian.co.uk

The Guardian's investigations editor, David Leigh, has told the Leveson inquiry into press standards that he had been right to hack into voicemail messages on one occasion in a successful attempt to stand up a story.

Asked about a 2006 Guardian article, in which Leigh wrote he had once accessed a mobile phone belonging to a businessman, the journalist told the inquiry on Tuesday: "I was trying to be as frank and candid as I could be. I don't hack phones, normally. I've never done anything like that since and I've never done anything like that before. On that particular occasion this minor incident did seem to me to be perfectly ethical, yes."