News Corp. Hackers said to target adviser to Tony Blair’s wife

A “lifestyle adviser” to the wife of former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair said she was told by London police that her mobile phone was hacked by News Corp.’s News of the World tabloid.

The Metropolitan Police told Carole Caplin her phone messages were intercepted by private investigator Glenn Mulcaire when he was working for the News of the World in 2002, Caplin said in a statement today. Mulcaire was jailed in 2007 after pleading guilty to targeting phones belonging to the household of the British royal family.

“Ms. Caplin’s is one of the earliest cases so far discovered and the police investigation has yet to uncover all the available evidence,” according to the statement from her spokeswoman Melanie Riley. “Once she is able to establish the extent of this invasion of her privacy, Ms. Caplin will decide what further action to take.”

Caplin’s claim comes less than two months after Blair’s former director of communications, Alastair Campbell, sued News Corp.’s British unit claiming his phone was hacked. The five- year-old scandal, which accelerated following fresh revelations in July, prompted News Corp. to close the 168-year-old tabloid and drop its 7.8 billion-pound ($12.4 billion) bid for full control of British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc.

The alleged hacking of Caplin’s phone took place the same year News of the World intercepted voice-mail messages of murdered school girl Millie Dowler while she was still missing, hampering a police search. News of the Dowler case in July triggered a public outcry that led to the tabloid’s closure. News Corp.’s U.K. unit agreed to a 3 million-pound settlement with the Dowler family last month.