In what is likely to widen the British telephone hacking scandal to Hollywood, the names of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have been included in the list of "23 newsworthy individuals" alleged to have been targeted by two senior reporters for the British tabloid News of the World that was shut down by Rupert Murdoch following the eruption of the scandal. The reporters are Neville Thurlbeck and James Weatherup, who were among eight persons connected to the newspaper who were charged on Tuesday with "conspiring to intercept communications without lawful authority." Today's (Wednesday) London Independent observed that the tenth item on the prosecutors' charge sheet includes the claim that Thurlbeck and Weatherup conspired to hack "the voicemail messages of persons associated with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, who included Eunice Huthart." (It was not clear whether Jolie and Pitt's voicemail messages were also intercepted or just those "associated" with them.) Huthart is a British stunt double and stunt coordinator and has frequently doubled for Jolie. The Independent observed that, according to the charge sheet, the phone hacking involving Jolie and Pitt is said to have taken place at the time the couple began their relationship on the set of Mr. and Mrs. Smith , which was produced and distributed by 20th Century Fox, which, like News of the World , is also owned by News Corp. "So far, the U.S. ... has paid little attention to the hacking scandal," the Independent commented in its report. "A trial involving 'Brangelina,' which could revolve around details of their private lives, would change that."

25/07/2012