2:31pm UK, Thursday July 07, 2011
The Royal British Legion (RBL) has dropped the News Of The World (NOTW) as a longstanding campaign partner - as companies continue to pull adverts in the wake of phone hacking allegations.
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The charity said it was "shocked to the core" and had "suspended all relations" with the newspaper amid claims the families of fallen soldiers had been targeted.
Relatives' personal details have been found by police combing the files of former NOTW investigator Glenn Mulcaire, according to The Daily Telegraph.
The RBL has previously worked with the NOTW on many campaigns, including supporting ex-servicemen by calling for the Military Covenant to be enshrined in law.
Meanwhile, advertisers continue to distance themselves from the Sunday tabloid, with Boots, O2 and Sainsbury's among the latest in a string of firms to halt advertising.
BSkyB, owner of Sky News, which is the paper's biggest advertiser, has announced it will retain advertising this weekend.
All the latest Sky News tweets on the hacking story
General Sir David Richards, chief of the defence staff, said the allegations in The Daily Telegraph, if true, were "disgusting", while the Prime Minister's spokesman said the claims would be "truly appalling".
The RBL said in a statement: "We can't with any conscience campaign alongside News Of The World on behalf of Armed Forces families while it stands accused of preying on these same families in the lowest depths of their misery."
RBL's advertising budget with News International (NI) - which also publishes The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times - is under review.
Sky's Niall PatersonThe Armed Forces will, rightly, be just as indignant if these phone hacking allegations are true.
RBL spokesman Kevin Hart told Sky News bereaved families had been "shocked" by the allegations.
He said: "They've obviously gone through the worst possible trauma of losing loved ones, and then to find out that this has been the source of inquiries into their mobile phones has just been very distressing for them."
NI has said it would be "appalled and horrified" if claims that families of those killed in Iraq and Afghanistan had been targeted were proven to be accurate.
:: Read the full statement by the Royal British Legion
A spokesman for NI said: "News International's record as a friend of the armed services, and of our servicemen and servicewomen, is impeccable.
"Our titles have campaigned in support of the military over many years and will continue to do so.
"If these allegations are true we are absolutely appalled and horrified.
The phone hacking saga has sparked fury among relatives of dead servicemen
"We will be contacting the MoD immediately to try and verify the situation."
The MoD said the matter was for the Metropolitan Police, who are investigating the allegations.
"It would be inappropriate for us to comment whilst this investigation is ongoing," a spokesman said.
Carol Valentine, whose son Simon was killed by a blast during a patrol in Afghanistan's Helmand province in 2009, told Sky News the claims were "appalling".
Law firm MPH Solicitors - whose clients include Samantha Roberts, widow of one of the first Britons killed in Iraq in 2003 - has called for clarity from the authorities over the claims.
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But senior lawyer Geraldine McCool said she had "never seen a news article that gave rise to concern that information had been obtained through phone hacking".
Meanwhile, The Times says more arrests are expected over phone hacking claims within days.
Five journalists and newspaper executives have been identified as suspects, the paper said.
The Press Complaints Commission has announced it will launch a review of "all aspects of press regulation" in the wake of the scandal.
Chancellor George Osborne has revealed was also told by police that his name and phone number had appeared in notes belonging to Mulcaire.
However there was no suggestion the Chancellor's phone was hacked, Mr Osborne's spokesman stressed.
Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of News International
The Daily Telegraph has published claims families of 7/7 bombing victims may have also been hacked.
The BBC has said parents of murdered Soham schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman could have been targeted and The Guardian reported murder victim Milly Dowler's phone was also accessed illegally.
Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corporation, NI's parent company, has described phone hacking - and claims the tabloid's journalists paid police - as "deplorable and unacceptable".
Mr Murdoch called the allegations 'deplorable' - but he is backing Ms Brooks
However, he backed the NOTW's former editor and current NI chief executive Rebekah Brooks, who has faced calls to resign.
With concerns about alleged practices at the paper mounting, NI documents indicating Scotland Yard officers received payments from the NOTW have been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
Met Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson told Sky News he would be "more than ashamed" of those suspected of taking money - and said he was determined to see anyone who did facing criminal conviction.
And the Crown Office said witness statements at the trial of Scottish politician Tommy Sheridan are being reviewed.
It did not specify which witnesses, but among those who testified were Andy Coulson, who was editor of the paper when phone hacking allegations first emerged.
A jury found he had lied in court when he successfully sued the NOTW after the paper reported he attended swinging parties.
:: QA on the phone hacking scandal
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Article Source KBG Test Blog (http://rc.kbg.me)
