29 November 2011 Last updated at 09:16 ET

Phone-hacking scandal: Judgement on Mulcaire reserved

Glenn Mulcaire was jailed in 2007 for six months for phone hacking

Judgement has been reserved over a private investigator's appeal against two court orders that may force him to reveal who ordered him to hack phones.

Glenn Mulcaire appealed to the High Court to try to avoid having to answer questions in civil proceedings that could incriminate him.

The investigator is trying to overturn an order that he cannot rely on privilege against self-incrimination.

He cannot currently avoid answering any questions put to him in civil cases.

If questioned, Mulcaire would have to explain how he obtained voicemail numbers and passwords and who provided the details.

Mulcaire was jailed in January 2007 for six months along with News of the World's royal correspondent Clive Goodman for illegally accessing voicemails of members of the royal household.

'Research assignments'

At the time he surrendered notebooks to the police containing information about phone hacking.

Comedian Steve Coogan and PR consultant Nicola Phillips, a former employee of the publicist Max Clifford, have since launched civil privacy cases against News International, the publisher of the now defunct News of the World.

Mulcaire was contracted to the former newspaper to undertake "research assignments" from at least September 2001.

The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, the Master of the Rolls, Lord Neuberger, and Lord Justice Maurice Kay heard the two-day appeal and decided to reserve judgement to a later date.

The appeal comes as the Leveson Inquiry is examining media practices and ethics in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal.