BBC Panorama will tonight broadcast new allegations of wrongdoing at the News of the World, this time claiming emails were hacked into by a private detective and then obtained by a former senior executive at the paper.

The documentary, due to be aired at 8.30pm tonight, claims to expose “the full extent of the ‘dark arts’ employed across the industry to get their story”.

The programme reveals a dishonourable history of law breaking that went beyond phone hacking and questions the police inaction that let it continue.

In a statement released in response to the allegations, News International said that to date Panorama has not provided it with evidence to support the claims.

If Panorama has evidence that illegal acts were actually commissioned by this newspaper then we urge them to supply this information so we can properly investigate it. As recent events show we will not tolerate misconduct by staff. The overarching principle is that we work in the public interest, within the PCC’s code of conduct and the law.

The former executive claims the allegations are untrue, according to the BBC.