Bin-diving and blagging - the seamy side of the tabloid business in the West

Benjamin Pell made a second career out of digging through the contents of people's rubbish bags and selling it to the British press.

The office cleaner, or 'Benji the Binman' as he was known to his clients on Fleet Street, regularly passed journalists the discarded papers of lawyers, celebrities and business executives.

Benji's low-tech operations in the late 1990s fed stories on a high-profile libel case and even Elton John's flower bill.

British tabloids have a long and colourful history of finding new ways to get the story.

From rooting through bins to hacking into email accounts, journalists at the so-called 'redtops' have long reveled in their roguish tactics.

Now, though, one tabloid has gone too far.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation said on Thursday it will close its Sunday scandal sheet News of the World after the next edition, as a result of an escalating phone hacking scandal.

Text: Kate Holton and Mark Hosenball, Reuters

Image: British newspapers are displayed at a newstand in London.

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