When the News of the World’s royal editor Clive Goodman was arrested and charged in 2006 for illegally tapping in to mobile voicemail messages of members of the royal family, many sources in Fleet Street realised it may be only the tip of the iceberg.

“When you’ve got a contact that can do this, everyone will use them — the newsdesk will use them, showbiz will use them. There will be a lot more to come out than just this specific case,” one source told Press Gazette, which I was editing at the time.

And so it’s come to pass. The Guardian has a tremendous exclusive today, claiming that News International has paid out more than £1m in out of court settlements to celebrities and public figures who had alleged their phones had been ‘screwed’ by Sun and News International journalists or by private investigators that they had paid.

Up to 3,000 individuals, the Guardian claims, may have had their phones compromised in this way. 

Although the practice is almost certainly historic – the mobile phone companies had already tightened their security by the time Goodman was arrested – it’s a major headache for News International because the story clearly goes right to the top of its chain of command. Managing editor Stuart Kuttner has certainly chosen a good time to announce his retirement. It’s also a headache for David Cameron, whose director of communications Andy Coulson was editor of the News of the World at the time in question.

It could be a headache for the rest of us too. Advocates of tougher privacy laws will undoubtedly seize on this scandal to strengthen their case.