Metropolitan Police Commissioner Paul Stephenson said he had chosen a senior Scotland Yard officer, Assistant Commissioner John Yates, to look into the allegations alongside the News of the World, which is owned by News International Ltd., a subsidiary of Murdoch’s News Corp.

“We will investigate thoroughly and follow the case to where it leads us,” Stephenson told Sky News, Home Office Minister David Hanson said police would make a statement later Thursday on the “serious allegations.”

Citing nameless senior police sources, The Guardian reported that journalists at the tabloid used confidential investigators to hack into private voicemail messages, using the information to “gain unlawful access to private data, including tax records, social security files, bank statements and itemized phone bills.”

Some source said other targets included London Mayor Boris Johnson, celebrity chef Nigella Lawson and politicians from Britain’s three main parties then The Guardian wrote that the News of the World had paid more than 1 million pounds or about $1.6 million in secret out-of-court settlements to three of the targets, including Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association.

Commissioner Richard Thomas said in a report that there was “an unlawful trade in confidential personal information,” with much of it going to the media, the News of the World’s royalty editor, Clive Goodman, was ordered jailed for four months for hacking into royal officials’ voicemail systems, and that was go on since 2006.

Goodman’s accomplice, private researcher Glenn Mulcaire, was sentenced to six months in penitentiary for hacking into the messages, including various from Princes William and Harry. The judge said Mulcaire duped mobile phones network operators into passing him confidential PIN numbers to access messages left on the mobile phones.

Goodman’s accomplice, private researcher Glenn Mulcaire, was sentenced to six months in penitentiary for hacking into the messages, including various from Princes William and Harry. The judge said Mulcaire duped mobile phones network operators into passing him confidential PIN numbers to access messages left on the cell phones. Britain’s Data Protection Act makes it an crime to “obtain, disclose or procure the disclosure” of individual information without permission.