Arthur Edwards - Pool/Getty ImagesThe plot thickens.
Kate Middleton's phone was hacked 155 times, starting on Christmas in 2005, according to testimony from former News of the World royals editor Clive Goodman given today at trial as the hacking case against the now-shuttered News Corp.-owned tabloid continues to unfold.
The journalist, who spent time in jail in 2007 for hacking the voicemail accounts of royal aides, told the court that he listened in on the Duchess of Cambridge 155 times, while Prince William's phone was accessed 35 times and Prince Harry was hacked nine times.
"There has been no intention to deceive you or anybody else about my involvement in hacking," Goodman said during proceedings at the Old Bailey in London, per the Daily Mail. "If anyone asks me an open question, I will give an open answer."
He testified that he last hacked Kate's voicemail on Aug. 7, 2006, the day before he was arrested. He said that William's then-girlfriend was becoming a figure of "increasing importance around the royal family," hence the increased effort spent on poking around in her private affairs.
"There were discussions about her and Prince William marrying, moving in, settling down," Goodman recalled. "She started to receive semi-royal status around the Royal Family."
Per the Mail, Goodman has admitted during this ongoing trial to hacking the phones of royal aide Mark Dyer; Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall's son, Tom Parker Bowles. And just today, he testified to hacking Prince Charles aide Michael Fawcett and a PR consultant to the Duchess of York, Kate Waddington.
Asked by a lawyer for defendant Andy Coulson, a former NOTW editor, why he never came forward about these particular alleged hacking victims before, Goodman replied that no one had ever asked him until now.
"I'm not on trial for phone hacking, and I completely agree I hacked these people's phones," Goodman said. "But they were never put to me individually."
Coulson, Goodman and fellow defendants Rebekah Brooks, her husband Charles Brooks, Stuart Kuttner, Mark Hanna and Cheryl Carter have all denied being involved in any hacking conspiracy
The trial was suspended back in March after Goodman fell ill and they chose to wait to proceed until he was fit enough to give evidence.
Rebekah Brooks has pleaded not guilty to two counts of perverting the course of justice and two counts of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office. Coulson and Goodman have denied two counts of misconduct in a public office.
Carter, Hanna and Charles Brooks have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, while Rebekah, Coulson, Edmondson and Kuttner all denied a count of conspiracy to intercept communications as well.
Goodman previously testified that Prince William was heard calling Kate "baby" and "babykins," and in one message he warned that a "cheeky" text message might be on its way.