Gordon Brown's e-mails said hacked in U.K.

LONDON, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- Police in Britain say private investigators commissioned by national newspapers may have hacked e-mails sent and received by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Police say evidence from computers seized in the investigation into whether several newspapers hired hi-tech private detectives to access computers, suggests Brown's private communications were hacked when he served as Chancellor of the Exchequer under Prime Minister Tony Blair, The Independent reported Monday.

Brown has previously accused News International, owner of the now-defunct News of the World, of accessing personal information including his bank accounts.

In 2011, Brown contacted Sue Akers, the Metropolitan Police's deputy assistant commissioner heading the phone- and email-hacking investigations naming three high-level Sunday Times journalists, whom he alleged were aware of the techniques used to access his personal details, the newspaper said. Brown said he "could not understand" why, under the protection and defenses of a chancellor or prime minister, he was still vulnerable to "unlawful or unscrupulous tactics."

Scotland Yard investigators say they are examining evidence from about 20 computers holding data suggesting private e-mails of hundreds of people may have been hacked.