Evidence has been found suggesting a News of the World reporter tried to buy a phone book containing Royal Family numbers

Evidence has been found suggesting a News of the World reporter tried to buy a phone book containing Royal Family numbers, the BBC understands.

The suggestion is the list, known as the green book, had been stolen and offered for £1,000 by a police officer.

The Metropolitan Police responded by saying the disclosures were part of a deliberate campaign to undermine its inquiry into alleged illegal payments.

The force said it was "extremely concerned and disappointed".

It has emerged that e-mails suggesting police officers were paid for information were uncovered by the News of the World's publisher, News International, in 2007, but not given to the Metropolitan Police until June this year.

BBC business editor Robert Peston said in one of the e-mails Clive Goodman, the paper's disgraced former royal editor, was requesting cash from the then newspaper's editor, Andy Coulson, to buy a confidential directory of the royal family's landline telephone numbers, and all the phone numbers - including mobiles - of the household staff.

Mr Coulson, who was editor of the News of the World from 2003-07, has denied any knowledge of phone hacking and corruption.

'Security at risk'
A source told our editor: "There was clear evidence from the e-mails that the security of the royal family was being put at risk. I was profoundly shocked when I saw them."

The source added that the e-mails were unambiguous signs of criminal activity at the News of the World.

"It is quite astonishing that these e-mails were not handed to the police for investigation when they were first found in 2007," he said.

When News International reviewed these e-mails this year, under new management, they appointed the former director of public prosecutions Lord Ken Macdonald to assess their content.

He found evidence of very serious criminal activity, our business editor said, and advised News International to pass the e-mails on to investigating officer Cressida Dick at Scotland Yard.

James Murdoch, News International's chairman, has said he was not in the picture about the full extent of wrongdoing at the News of the World until recently, and News International has denied he had any prior knowledge of the e-mails.

Leaks
Former Liberal Democrat leader, Ming Campbell, said it was a worrying development which "must inevitably raise questions as to whether or not at any stage the safety of the royal family was prejudiced".

In other developments:

The Labour leader Ed Miliband said David Cameron's version of events on his employment of former NoW editor Andy Coulson as his official spokesman "did not add up". He said he wanted the PM to explain to the House of Commons apparent inconsistencies.
The BBC understands Rebekah Brooks could be questioned by police as a witness, rather than a suspect. Mrs Brooks has denied having had any knowledge of hacking while she was editor from 2000 to 2003.
The chairman of the media select committee, Tory MP John Whittingdale, said the BSkyB bid should be put on hold in the present "poisonous atmosphere".
Earlier on Monday, Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt wrote to media regulator Ofcom and the Office of Fair Trading asking for a fresh assessment of the proposed buyout of BSkyB by News Corp after the 168-year-old News of the World was shut down following the damaging allegations of phone hacking at the paper.

He wrote: "I would be grateful if you could indicate whether this development (and/or the events surrounding it) gives you any additional concerns in respect of plurality over and above those raised in your initial report to me on this matter received on 31 December 2010."

Mr Hunt asked if last week's events caused them to reconsider previous advice about the "credibility, sustainability or practicalities of the undertakings offered by News Corporation".


Milly Dowler's mother told Nick Clegg the deleted messages had given them hope she was still alive
Explaining why he had written the letter, Mr Hunt later said: "I'm trying to give the public confidence that I am doing this fairly and impartially... I want to take independent advice, and Ofcom are the expert regulators."

Mr Miliband has demanded the BSkyB bid be referred to the Competition Commission, and said the government could not rely on assurances from News Corp executives in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal.

Mr Clegg called on Mr Murdoch to "do the decent thing" and reconsider his BSkyB bid.

Meanwhile, deputy prime minister Nick Clegg has met the family of Milly Dowler, the murdered schoolgirl whose phone was allegedly hacked while she was missing in 2002.

Afterwards their solicitor, Mark Lewis, added to the pressure on News International's chief executive and former News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks, when he said the Dowlers thought she should resign.

He said: "She should take responsibility and do the honourable thing and resign. They don't see why Rebekah Brooks should stay in her job."

Mr Clegg said "grotesque journalism practices" had led to public revulsion.

Milly Dowler's parents Bob and Sally Dowler and her sister Gemma told Mr Clegg the deleting of messages on her phone had given them hope she was alive and discussed their hopes for the forthcoming public inquiries.

The government has announced two independent inquiries into the scandal, firstly a judge-led probe into the activities of the NoW and other papers, and the failure of the original police investigation from 2005 into phone-hacking.

The second inquiry will examine the ethics and culture of the press.