LONDON (MCT) — Prosecutors announced criminal charges Tuesday against eight people in connection with Britain’s phone-hacking scandal, including a onetime confidant of media baron Rupert Murdoch and a former senior aide to Prime Minister David Cameron.

The eight suspects are accused of illegally tapping into the cell phones of celebrities, politicians and others in the public spotlight, including a teenage kidnap victim who was later found slain. All worked at one time for the News of the World, a tabloid that was notorious for its ruthless pursuit of sensational stories before Murdoch shut it down last year as a result of the hacking scandal.