Police Quiz Piers Morgan Over Phone Hacking

LONDON (AP) — Former CNN host Piers Morgan was questioned for a second time by British police Tuesday about tabloid phone hacking.

Morgan, who edited Britain’s Daily Mirror newspaper between 1995 and 2004, said he attended a voluntary interview with detectives.

“As this is an ongoing investigation, I am unable to comment further until its conclusion,” he said in a statement.

London’s Metropolitan Police said “a 50-year-old man was interviewed under caution … in connection with suspected conspiracy to intercept telephone voicemails.”

“Under caution” means Morgan was not arrested, but the interview was recorded and could be used in future prosecutions

Morgan, 50, was previously questioned by police investigating hacking in December 2013.

He has denied knowing that reporters were eavesdropping on mobile-phone voicemails when he was an editor.

Britain’s phone hacking scandal was triggered by the 2011 revelation that employees of Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World listened to the voicemails of politicians, celebrities and even crime victims in a quest for scoops.

Since then, police investigations, criminal trials and a public inquiry have revealed that phone hacking was widespread at Britain’s tabloids more than a decade ago. Former News of the World editor Andy Coulson was sentenced last year to 18 months in jail for hacking that went on when he was in charge.

Murdoch’s News Corp. and Mirror Group Newspapers — two of Britain’s main tabloid publishers — have admitted hacking and paid millions in compensation to victims.

Judge Brian Leveson, who led the phone-hacking inquiry, called Morgan’s claim that he had no knowledge of the practice “utterly unpersuasive.”

Morgan was fired by the Daily Mirror in 2004 after the newspaper ran pictures claiming to show British soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners which were discovered to be fakes. He hosted an interview show on CNN between 2011 and 2014.