Peter Hain, former Northern Ireland secretary, has been warned by police that his computer may have been hacked by private detectives working for News International.

The Guardian reports that the Metropolitan Police have warned Hain that they are investigating whether his computer, which would have contained intelligence material, had been hacked.
"This is a matter of national security and subject to a police investigation so it would not be appropriate to comment,” a spokesperson for Hain has commented.

If found to be true, this will the most serious allegation of newspaper malpractice to be uncovered yet, and will signal that newspapers went far beyond the use of phone hacking to gain information.

News International has said it is co-operating fully with the police on all investigations.

Former British army intelligence officer Ian Hurst yesterday told the Leveson inquiry into media ethics that he believed that his computer had been hacked using a Trojan Horse virus, which he claims came from a known hacker who worked for a News of the World private detective.