Former Labour MP Paul Marsden has confirmed that his solicitors were examining evidence that his phone may have been hacked by a Daily Mirror journalist in 2003.

Marsden - who was elected for Labour in 1997 before defecting to the Liberal Democrats - said he was keen to pursue court action.

If legal action goes ahead, Marsden will be the first figure to push the phone hacking scandal beyond the confines of News International, which has been mired in the controversy since News of the World royal correspondent Clive Goodman was jailed in 2007 for hacking along with private investigator Glenn Mulcaire.

Marsden's revelations come as Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions, confirmed yesterday that prosecutors would expand their review of evidence gathered during the phone hacking inquiry to include fresh claims swirling around the scandal.

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