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The Royal British Legion drops News of the World as campaign partner

The RBL has cut ties with News of the World amid claims the paper may have hacked into the mobile phones of bereaved families

The decision was taken following the disclosure that bereaved relatives of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan may have had their phones hacked by a private investigator working for News of the World. The Legion has suspended all relations with the newspaper pending a resolution of the allegations.

"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," said a charity spokesman. "The hacking allegations have shocked us to the core."

The charity also said its advertising budget with News International is under review. It takes advertising space in The Sun and on The Sun's Forces Channel online to promote its welfare services offered to Armed Forces personnel past and present as well as their families.

The RBL has campaigned with the News of the World on Military Covenant issues and was set to mount another initiative with the paper to save the Chief Coroner's Office from abolition.

 

"Clearly, it would make a mockery of that campaign to go hand-in-hand with News of the World," the spokesman added. "We think we'll do better without them."

The Legion provides free legal advice to bereaved military families at inquest as well as offering them a wide range of support. Kevin Hart, one of the Legion's lawyers working closely with bereaved military families, said he was "appalled that their private lives could have been invaded."

He added: "The Royal British Legion does its utmost to provide assistance and comfort to these bereaved families, who deserve the nation's utmost gratitude and respect. To think anyone would exploit their grief is frankly sick-making."

Michele Price, another of the Legion's lawyers working closely with bereaved Armed Forces families, added: "The Legion acts as their voice and their champion. I feel that my families would expect inhuman behaviour on a remote battlefield but not at the hands of Fleet Street."

The Legion supports calls for a full judicial review into the matter with powers to call evidence and examine witnesses under oath.