Murdoch`s journos spied on UK intelligence chief

London: Journalists from Rupert Murdoch`s News International group spied on the woman chief of Britain`s intelligence agency MI5 to uncover her personal life, a media report said on Saturday.

Stella Rimington became director-general of the MI5 in 1992 and retired in 1996. She was the first chief to be named publicly and to have her official photographs released, the Daily Express reported.

The MI5, established in 1909, works for national security, particularly against threats from espionage, terrorism and sabotage, from activities of agents of foreign powers and from actions intended to overthrow parliamentary democracy. The journalists from The Sunday Times discovered where Rimington shopped and where she held her bank account, she said.

"They`d found out which branch of Marks & Spencer I bought my food at, and they`d even found where my bank account was, too," Rimington told The Lady magazine.

The journalists told her they could also access her medical records, she said. News International has declined to comment on her allegations.
IANS