The claim that Murdoch journalists attempted to get hold of victims‘ phone details was made by the Mirror newspaper, which based the story on an unnamed former New York police officer working as a private detective, who was said to have been approached by News of the World reporters asking him to retrieve the private phone records of the dead.

The detective was reported to have declined to take up the commission.

It is unclear at this early stage in the investigation whether there is any substance to the Mirror‘s allegations. But relatives of 9/11 victims expressed delight and relief that the FBI had stepped in to clear up the issue.