London, Dec 20 (ANI): Manchester United coach Sir Alex Ferguson's medical records were obtained by the now-defunct British tabloid News of the World through 'blagging'-tricking a source into revealing information, it has emerged.
Former sports reporter Matt Driscoll told the Leveson Inquiry that the newspaper agreed not to use the confidential details in return for the Manchester United manager co-operating with other stories.
Driscoll said that phone hacking and 'blagging' were both widely used the newspaper. He insisted he had no direct involvement with the methods, but said he could not raise his concerns without being marked out as a 'troublemaker,' the Daily Mail reports.
He also alleged that David Cameron's former Press aide Andy Coulson presided over a culture of lying and bullying at the News of the World, and that Coulson led a campaign to drive him out because his 'face didn't fit'.
Driscoll said he had been bullied and victimised after Coulson became editor, eventually being signed off work with severe depression. He added that Coulson was 'the original source of the hostility'.
"My tribunal found there was a culture of bullying. I would say it was a culture of lying a lot of the time. They were covering stuff up," the paper quoted him, as saying.
He said he believed Coulson's superiors within News International were also aware of phone hacking. (ANI)
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