News of the World royal phone hacking scandal failures of the police investigation would go on to form part of the wider scandal in 2011. In August 2006, the "News of the World"s royal editor, Clive Goodman and a private investigator, Glenn Mulcaire, were arrested by the Metropolitan Police, and later charged with hacking the telephones of members of the royal family by accessing voicemail messages, an offence under section 79 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. On 26 January 2007, both Goodman and Mulcaire pleaded guilty to the charges and were sentenced to four and six months imprisonment respectively. On the same day, it was
2009–2011 News of the World phone hacking scandal investigations editor Andy Coulson's alleged knowledge of it. The investigation also revealed that a journalist at the "News of the World" had been attempting to hack into the voicemail messages of a "television personality" in 2010. The journalist was suspended from reporting and faced legal action by the personality. The "Times" piece cited Sean Hoare, a former colleague, as saying that Coulson had "actively encouraged" phone hacking. Coulson denied the claims and indicated that he would allow himself to be questioned by the Metropolitan Police Service regarding the phone hacking affair. The Guardian's 2009 investigation led the Press Complaints Commission to