Ex-Mirror journalist says he was asked to give Coronation Street star flowers containing listening device
A former Mirror Group journalist has told Sky News that he was asked to give a Coronation Street actress a bunch of flowers bugged with a listening device during a visit to a spa.
Dean Piper, a showbiz reporter at The Mirror in the early 2000s, said he was asked to carry out the task while working for the paper’s sister title, The Sunday People.
However, he said he refused and later decided to leave the paper.
Last week, in a privacy case brought by Prince Harry, a High Court judge found another practice – phone hacking – was carried out by Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) from 1996 to 2011.
The judge said hacking was “widespread and habitual” from 1998.
He also found there was “some unlawful activity” – involving the use of private investigators – in 1995.
Prince Harry, pictured outside the High Court in May
Speaking to the UK Tonight with Sarah Jane Mee about his experience working at MGN, Mr Piper said: “The worst thing I was ever asked – and it was probably ultimately what made me walk from my job at The People – involved Coronation Street star Tracy Shaw.
“She was having a lot of issues in those days, but she was very big news. She was on the front cover all the time.
“I was called over at one point and said that I was going to go to a spa and have a spa break, and I thought: ‘Brilliant’.
“They said you are going to have a bunch of flowers, and we’re going to put a bug in it, and we’re going to deliver it to Tracy Shaw, and we have booked the room right next door to her, and you’re just going to stay up all night and write down everything that’s gone on.”
Mr Piper said he “point-blank refused” the request.
“There were enough whipper-snappers that want to further their career that probably would have taken the flowers, but that wasn’t morally right, and it’s kind of illegal,” he said.
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Prince Harry: The mission continues
‘It was a Voldemort scenario’
Mr Piper was speaking after Prince Harry’s victory in a phone hacking against his former employers.
The judge ruled in the case that phone hacking “remained an important tool in the climate of journalism” at all three MGN papers – the Daily Mirror, the Sunday Mirror and Sunday People – from 2006 to 2011.
The judge also ruled that directors at MGN – Paul Vickers and Sly Bailey – knew about phone hacking but did not inform the rest of the board.
Mr Piper said he was aware that people were phone hacking during his time working there, but insisted “not everybody was phone hacking”.
“I’m able to talk about it because I’ve got a completely clear conscience about the fact that I was never involved in it. But there were people at the paper that did phone hacking,” he said.
“There were certain people on each desk – they were usually away from the main throng of the editorial team – we knew what they did, and we knew that their exclusives were coming from the phones.”
Mr Piper compared the topic of hacking to the main villain in the Harry Potter series, Lord Voldemort, who is referred to by most characters as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named because of the culture of fear surrounding him.
The ex-reporter said: “It was a ‘Voldemort’ scenario – as far as you didn’t openly talk about it. But everybody knew what was going on.”
Morgan ‘brilliant boss’ but hacking excuse ‘ridiculous’
The judge, Mr Justice Fancourt, said in his ruling that he found it “convincing” that Piers Morgan knew about phone hacking when he was in charge of the Daily Mirror – from 1995 to 2004.
After the judgment, Mr Morgan made a statement outside his London home, in which he said he had “never hacked a phone or told anyone else to hack a phone”.
Former Mirror editor Piers Morgan speaks to the media following the ruling
“There is just one article relating to the prince published in The Daily Mirror during my entire nine-year tenure as editor that he [the High Court judge] thinks may have involved some unlawful information gathering,” Mr Morgan said.
“To be clear, I had then and still have zero knowledge of how that particular story was gathered.”
Mr Piper praised Piers Morgan as a “brilliant boss” who was “very supportive”.
But asked about the judgment and Mr Morgan’s defence, Mr Piper said: “I mean, look, if you’re a national newspaper editor, and you’ve got all of this power, and you’re deciding what the narrative is for the Daily Mirror the first thing you’re going to say is, where did that story come from?
“So I find that quite amusing and kind of ridiculous because that’s the first port of call as an editor and as a journalist, you want to know where the story came from.”
Read more:
What were the articles at the centre of the case?
Key findings in the judgment
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Morgan: “I have never hacked a phone”
Mr Piper added: “But there is an open conversation that I feel is important about the way that those newspapers did work in those days.
“And it wasn’t good what they were doing, and it would be nice if people started to get to the point where they accepted some responsibility for what they put people through.”
He continued: “You only have to look at the front pages in those days to realise how many stories were coming from that [phone hacking]. It wasn’t just the odd one, it was endless amounts.”
A spokesperson for Mirror Group said following last week’s judgment: “We welcome the judgment that gives the business the necessary clarity to move forward from events that took place many years ago.
“Where historical wrongdoing took place, we apologise unreservedly, have taken full responsibility and paid appropriate compensation.”
Drummer Zak Starkey has said he is “surprised and saddened” after parting ways with The Who following recent charity shows at the Royal Albert Hall.
The musician, who is the son of The Beatles drummer Ringo Starr and his first wife, Maureen Starkey, had been with the band since 1996, when he joined for their Quadrophenia tour.
He was introduced to drumming as a child by “Uncle Keith” – The Who drummer and family friend Keith Moon, who died in 1978.
Pic: Carsten Koall/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images
Earlier this week, the band issued a statement saying a “collective decision” had been made about his departure. It came after their Teenage Cancer Trust shows in March.
A review of one gig, published in the Metro, suggested frontman Roger Daltrey – who launched the annual gig series for the charity in 2000 – was “frustrated” with the drumming during some tracks.
Now, Starkey has issued a statement to Rolling Stone, saying he is “very proud” of his near 30 years with The Who.
“Filling the shoes of my Godfather, ‘Uncle Keith’ has been the biggest honour and I remain their biggest fan,” he said. “They’ve been like family to me.”
In January, Starkey suffered a blood clot in his right leg and a performance with his other band Mantra Of The Cosmos – which also features Shaun Ryder and Bez from Happy Mondays, and Andy Bell of Ride and Oasis – was cancelled.
Referencing this in his statement to Rolling Stone, Starkey said: “I suffered a serious medical emergency with blood clots in my right bass drum calf. This is now completely healed and does not affect my drumming or running.”
He continued: “After playing those songs with the band for so many decades, I’m surprised and saddened anyone would have an issue with my performance that night, but what can you do?”
Starkey said he planned to “take some much needed time off with my family” and focus on the release of Mantra Of The Cosmos single Domino Bones, which features Noel Gallagher, as well as his autobiography.
“Twenty-nine years at any job is a good old run, and I wish them the best,” he added.
Starkey has also previously played with Oasis, Lightning Seeds and Johnny Marr.
While Daltrey starts a solo tour at the weekend, The Who have two shows planned for Italy in July but no full tour. Details of a replacement for Starkey have not been announced.
Entertainment
Muscles from Brussels Jean-Claude Van Damme sends ‘big kiss’ to Putin with ambassadorial job request
Jean Claude Van Damme appears to have told Vladimir Putin that he wants to come to Russia as an ‘”ambassador of peace”.
In a bizarre video posted on Telegram by a pro-Russian journalist from Ukraine, a man purporting to be the Hollywood action hero said he would be “honoured” to take on such a role.
Addressing the Kremlin leader directly, he said: “We want to come to Russia. We’ll try to do this the way you want to do this – to be an ambassador of peace.”
It would not be the first time the man nicknamed “The Muscles from Brussels” has visited Russia.
In 2010, he enjoyed ringside seats alongside Putin at a mixed martial arts event in Sochi.
The Belgian-born former bodybuilder shares a love of fighting with the Russian president, who is himself a judo black belt, and they are said to have known each other for years.
Tiptoeing around the topic of Russia’s war in Ukraine and its ongoing stand-off with the West, Van Damme promised to talk “only about peace, sport and happiness” and not politics, before signing off the video with a “big kiss for Putin”.
Most celebrities have turned their back on Vladimir Putin since he launched his invasion in February 2022 but a handful continue to defend him. Of those, American actor Steven Seagal is the most high profile.
The Under Siege star, who holds a Russian passport and is a frequent visitor to the country, acts as Moscow’s special representative for Russian-US humanitarian ties.
But when we caught up with him at Putin’s latest presidential inauguration last year, he refused to say why he supports the Kremlin leader…
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Steven Seagal calls Sky’s question about Putin ‘stupid’
Entertainment
Gossip Girl and Buffy star Michelle Trachtenberg died as a result of complications from diabetes, medical examiner says
Gossip Girl actress Michelle Trachtenberg died as a result of complications from diabetes, New York City’s medical examiner has said.
The 39-year-old, who was also known for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Harriet the Spy, was found dead at her home in New York City after officers responded to a 911 call on 26 February.
According to a source quoted by Sky News’ US partner network NBC, she had recently received a liver transplant.
At the time of her death, officials said no foul play was suspected, and the medical examiner’s office had listed her death as “undetermined”.
Trachtenberg’s family had objected to a post-mortem, which the medical examiner’s office honoured because there was no evidence of criminality.
But the medical examiner’s office said in a statement on Thursday it amended the cause and manner of death for the actress following a review of laboratory test results.
Trachtenberg was best known for her role as Dawn Summers in Buffy, the younger sister of the title character played by Sarah Michelle Gellar between 2000 and 2003.
Michelle Trachtenberg. Pic: AP
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Between 2008 and 2012, she played Georgina Sparks on Gossip Girl – the malevolent rival of Blake Lively’s Serena van der Woodsen and Leighton Meester’s Blair Waldorf.
She also starred in the movie 17 Again, where she portrayed daughter Maggie O’Donnell, comedy film Eurotrip and the 2005 teen film Ice Princess.
In 2001, she received a Daytime Emmy nomination for hosting Discovery’s Truth or Scare.
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