London -
A private investigator convicted of phone hacking had Kate Middleton's name on a list of potential targets, British prosecutors said on Tuesday.
A London jury was told that that the name of Middleton, who is now married to Prince William, appeared on a handwritten page titled “Target Evaluation” in a notebook belonging to Glenn Mulcaire.
The list was among thousands of pages of notes found after Mulcaire was arrested for phone hacking in 2006.
Middleton, who became the Duchess of Cambridge when she married William in 2011, has been the subject of intense media interest since she and the prince began dating while students at St Andrew's University a decade ago.
Other names on the “target” list included Boris Johnson, now mayor of London; former England soccer team manager Sven-Goran Eriksson; and Angelina Jolie's stunt double Eunice Huthart. It's unclear whether all those on the list were hacked.
Mulcaire was briefly jailed in 2007 for hacking the phones of royal aides on behalf of Rupert Murdoch's now-shuttered News Of The World tabloid. He recently pleaded guilty to further hacking charges.
Former News Of The World editors Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson are on trial with six others on a variety of charges related to phone hacking, bribing officials and obstructing justice. All have pleaded not guilty.
The trial also heard on Tuesday about the newspaper's interest in Manchester United soccer star Wayne Rooney, who was in the news in 2004 for alleged liaisons with prostitutes. Mulcaire's notes contained details including Rooney's phone password - Stella Artois, a brand of beer - and details about his mother.
The notes also contained mobile phone details of Laura Rooney, a beautician mistakenly thought to be related to the athlete.
The trial stems from the revelation in 2011 that Murdoch's News Of The World had for years eavesdropped on the voice mails of people in the public eye. The victims included politicians, celebrities, athletes, royalty and crime victims.
Murdoch shut the newspaper in July 2011, and his company has paid compensation to scores of hacking victims. - Sapa-AP