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7 July 2011
Last updated at 06:46 ET
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Kevin Hart of the Royal British Legion: "Given the nature of the allegations, we feel we have no other option but to suspend the relationship"
The Royal British Legion (RBL) has cut ties with the News of the World as its campaigning partner amid claims the paper may have hacked into the mobile phones of bereaved military families.
The charity said it was "shocked to the core" by the allegations.
Chief of the Defence Staff Gen Sir David Richards said the claims were "disgusting" and he was "appalled".
The paper's owner, News International, said it would be "horrified" if the reports turned out to be true.
According to the Daily Telegraph, the phone numbers of relatives of service personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan were found in the files of private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, who had been working for the News of the World.
Police have not approached relatives of the soldiers but some families say a newspaper has contacted them suggesting they were victims of phone-hacking.
The Royal British Legion also said it was reviewing its advertising with News International, which publishes the Sun and The Times, as well as the NoW, the UK's top-selling newspaper.
It campaigned with the News of the World on Military Covenant issues and was set to mount another initiative with the paper to save the Chief Coroner's Office from abolition.
The charity's adverts have also appeared in the Sun and on the Sun's Forces Channel online to promote its welfare services for serving and former military personnel and their relatives.
A spokesman for the charity said: "We can't with any conscience campaign alongside News of the World on behalf of Armed Forces families while it stands accused of preying on these same families in the lowest depths of their misery.
"The hacking allegations have shocked us to the core."
He added: "Clearly, it would make a mockery of that campaign to go hand-in-hand with News of the World. We think we'll do better without them."
News International is co-operating with a police inquiry into hacking at the News of the World and is conducting its own investigation into the claims.
"If these allegations are true we are absolutely appalled and horrified," the company said in a statement, adding that its "record as a friend of the armed services and of our servicemen and servicewomen, is impeccable".
In other developments:
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Lord Dannatt told the BBC the claims were "shocking, it's appalling, it's beyond terrible"
Defence Secretary Liam Fox said: "If these claims prove to be true then the intrusion into the private lives of bereaved families would be an outrageous breach of trust and I would strongly condemn anyone involved.
"Our Armed Forces and their families rightly deserve the respect and support of the nation particularly when their loved ones have made the ultimate sacrifice."
The former head of the Army, Lord Dannatt, told BBC Radio 4's Today: "It is really touching the sensitivity of families who have been through a tremendous amount - then to suddenly find what they thought was a closed issue after the death, the knock on the door, the repatriation and inquest, then suddenly gets opened again in this horrible way."
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Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.Kevin Hart of the Royal British Legion: "Given the nature of the allegations, we feel we have no other option but to suspend the relationship"
The Royal British Legion (RBL) has cut ties with the News of the World as its campaigning partner amid claims the paper may have hacked into the mobile phones of bereaved military families.
The charity said it was "shocked to the core" by the allegations.
Chief of the Defence Staff Gen Sir David Richards said the claims were "disgusting" and he was "appalled".
The paper's owner, News International, said it would be "horrified" if the reports turned out to be true.
According to the Daily Telegraph, the phone numbers of relatives of service personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan were found in the files of private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, who had been working for the News of the World.
Police have not approached relatives of the soldiers but some families say a newspaper has contacted them suggesting they were victims of phone-hacking.
The Royal British Legion also said it was reviewing its advertising with News International, which publishes the Sun and The Times, as well as the NoW, the UK's top-selling newspaper.
It campaigned with the News of the World on Military Covenant issues and was set to mount another initiative with the paper to save the Chief Coroner's Office from abolition.
The charity's adverts have also appeared in the Sun and on the Sun's Forces Channel online to promote its welfare services for serving and former military personnel and their relatives.
A spokesman for the charity said: "We can't with any conscience campaign alongside News of the World on behalf of Armed Forces families while it stands accused of preying on these same families in the lowest depths of their misery.
"The hacking allegations have shocked us to the core."
He added: "Clearly, it would make a mockery of that campaign to go hand-in-hand with News of the World. We think we'll do better without them."
News International is co-operating with a police inquiry into hacking at the News of the World and is conducting its own investigation into the claims.
"If these allegations are true we are absolutely appalled and horrified," the company said in a statement, adding that its "record as a friend of the armed services and of our servicemen and servicewomen, is impeccable".
In other developments:
- Prime Minister David Cameron is consulting MPs about the nature of a public inquiry into the phone-hacking claims, amid support by the deputy prime minister and the Labour leader for a judge-led hearing, with powers to call evidence and examine witnesses under oath
- Shares in BSkyB fall 2% on fears that the News of the World phone-hacking scandal could hinder parent company News Corp's bid for the broadcaster
- Sainsbury's supermarket follows the example of other companies including Ford and Npower by suspending advertising in the NoW
- Sara Payne, mother of murdered schoolgirl Sarah Payne, denied suggestions she may also have been a victim of phone-hacking by the paper
- Chancellor George Osborne has also been informed by police that his name and home phone number had been found in notes kept by Glenn Mulcaire although there is said to be no suggestion his phone was hacked
- Peter Ridsdale, the new chairman of Plymouth Argyle, tells BBC Radio Devon, his emails were hacked into and he is seeking damages from the News of the World following an article published by the paper when he was chairman of Cardiff City
Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.Lord Dannatt told the BBC the claims were "shocking, it's appalling, it's beyond terrible"
Defence Secretary Liam Fox said: "If these claims prove to be true then the intrusion into the private lives of bereaved families would be an outrageous breach of trust and I would strongly condemn anyone involved.
"Our Armed Forces and their families rightly deserve the respect and support of the nation particularly when their loved ones have made the ultimate sacrifice."
The former head of the Army, Lord Dannatt, told BBC Radio 4's Today: "It is really touching the sensitivity of families who have been through a tremendous amount - then to suddenly find what they thought was a closed issue after the death, the knock on the door, the repatriation and inquest, then suddenly gets opened again in this horrible way."
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