- Her voicemails were allegedly targeted while she was in America, taking the scandal across the Atlantic for the first time
- Ms Stark has been told by the Met that she may be another News of the World victim and has instructed star lawyer Mark Lewis
Court claim: Actress and Prince Andrew's former girlfriend Koo Stark, pictured recently, is believed to be pursuing News Corp in the U.S. courts for the first time
The Met has informed the 55-year-old she may have been another victim of the News of the World and Ms Stark has instructed expert lawyer Mark Lewis, who won £3 million for Milly Dowler's family from the Murdoch empire.
Her advisers believe her voicemails were targeted while she was in America, taking the scandal across the Atlantic for the first time.
This could potentially be hugely damaging to Rupert Murdoch's reputation in the States.
Detectives investigating phone hacking have also contacted a senior aide to the Queen, according to the Evening Standard.
Ailsa Anderson, the press secretary at Buckingham Palace, was approached six weeks ago by detectives from Operation Weeting, which is investigating claims of illegal voicemail interception.
She was told that her name had been found on a list of names and telephone numbers kept by former News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman, who was jailed over phone hacking.
The link comes after a dramatic week of evidence at the Leveson inquiry into press ethics, with 81-year-old Mr Murdoch claiming he was the victim of a cover-up by senior executives at News International.
New York-born Ms Stark is one of six cases Mr Lewis is set to launch in the US with Norman Siegel, an American lawyer who has represented families of September 11 victims.
The threat of further legal action in America is likely to expose News Corp, the parent company of News International, which published the defunct Sunday tabloid, to further embarrassing claims and bring the furore to the front door of Murdoch’s headquarters in New York.
Lovers: Prince Andrew remained friends with his old flame Koo Stark, pictured together, after he had gone on to marry Sarah Ferguson
Ms Stark became a favourite of the tabloids after she began an 18-month relationship with Prince Andrew following his return from the Falklands in 1982.
However, the romance ended soon after it emerged that Ms Stark had appeared in an erotic film called Emily.
Threat: Rupert Murdoch, who appeared at the Leveson Inquiry to defend his company's actions now faces a threat to his reputation in America
Star: Koo Stark was a huge star but has more recently fallen on hard times and was declared bankrupt last year
Scotland Yard contacted her recently to say she appeared in the notebooks of Glenn Mulcaire, who was jailed for phone-hacking in 2007 with Clive Goodman. The Met is contacting up to 4,000 celebrities, footballers and politicians who appear in 11,000 pages, hard drives and other equipment seized from the private investigator when he was first arrested in 2006.
Ms Anderson, who is in charge of PR at the palace, said she was contacted because her number was found in Goodman’s contact book. She said: 'I have been contacted by Weeting. I am 99 per cent certain I have not been hacked and I am not surprised at all that my name and details appeared in the contacts book of a journalist.'
Mr Lewis refused to discuss Ms Stark’s case. However, he has recently returned from a trip to meet lawyers in the US. The Murdoch empire is facing two investigations in the US. The FBI is examining claims by actor Jude Law that his phone was hacked while he was at JFK airport in New York.
Meanwhile, the US Department of Justice is examining allegations that News International’s journalists in Britain paid police for stories. Corrupt payments to overseas public officials by US companies are prohibited by the Foreign & Corrupt Practices Act.
As executive chairman of NI at the time, James Murdoch could have his assets seized and even jailed if any employee is found guilty of bribing officials outside the US. News International declined to comment.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2136178/Prince-Andrews-lover-Koo-Stark-to-launch-phone-hacking-claim-U-S-Murdoch-empire.html#ixzz1tGNDQgfw
