Piers Morgan says he was questioned in hacking investigation

LONDON, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- CNN talk show host Piers Morgan said he was interviewed by British police officers during the investigation into phone-hacking at News of the World.

In a statement to the Guardian through his spokesman, Morgan, a 48-year-old journalist and former Daily Mirror editor, said: "In early November I was asked to attend an interview by officers from Operation Weeting when I was next in the U.K. This was further to a full witness statement I had already freely provided. I attended that interview as requested on December 6, 2013."

Police in London confirmed Morgan was interviewed by officers from Operation Golding, the strand of Operation Weeting investigating allegations of phone hacking at Mirror Group Newspapers.

During the 2012 Leveson inquiry into the alleged hacking, Morgan, who also worked as the editor of the News of the World, gave testimony that in 2006, he was played a recording of a voice mail that rock star Paul McCartney had left for his wife, Heather Mills, on her mobile phone. At that time, Morgan said he did not believe the hacking occurred at the Daily Mirror.

The Leveson report stated that it did not believe Morgan authorized journalists to hack voice mail accounts at News of the World, or at the Daily Mirror.