Sutton's Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator at the centre of the News of The World phone hacking scandal, has claimed that he was simply following orders when he hacked the phones of high profile people.

The legal team behind the investigator have said that he did not unilaterally hack into voicemails of victims without the newspaper's knowledge.

He denied suggestions that he was a rogue reporter and his lawyers said he acted on the instructions of others and had been "effectively employed" by the newspaper from 2002 onwards.

Mulcaire has almost become a household name since the phone hacking scandal erupted following the alleged hacking of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler's phone while she was being sought by police as a missing person.

But "Trigger", as he is nicknamed, also has the unusual distinction of scoring AFC Wimbledon's first goal nine years ago.

One of the earliest allegations of phone hacking was Colin Stagg, the man wrongly accused of murdering Rachel Nickell in Wimbledon Common in 1992, who is suing News International after being told his mobile phone was hacked in 2000.