They discovered where she shopped, where she held her bank account and even bragged that they could access her medical records.
Dame Stella Rimington who became head of MI5 in 1992 was the first director-general to be named publicly and to have official photographs released.
Now she has revealed how she herself became a target for spying by The Sunday Times, part of tycoon Mr Murdoch’s troubled News International group.
She told the latest edition of The Lady magazine that she became the victim of “investigative journalists’’ at the paper.
She said: “They’d found out which branch of Marks & Spencer I bought my food at, and they’d even found where my bank account was, too.’’
She added that when the journalists informed her they could access her medical records she thought: “Blimey. What have I let myself in for?’’
Dame Stella Rimington gave no indication that she believes she was a victim of phone-hacking
Dame Stella, who retired in 1996 gave no indication that she believes she was a victim of the sort of phone-hacking that led to the closure of the News of the World, the stablemate of the Sunday Times.
But critics of media ethics, now the subject of a wide-ranging inquiry, have also voiced concern over ‘’blagging’’ which has seen doctors, banks and other institutions tricked into releasing confidential details about their clients over the phone.
Reflecting on her career, Dame Stella, now 76, admits she was irritated at being labelled a “housewife superspy’’ and found continual scrutiny of her appearance “depressing, because you can’t imagine a man worrying about all that at all, can you?’’
She said it was “quite flattering” to see Dame Judi Dench cast as spy chief M in recent James Bond films, but she thought 007’s latest escapades had gone “over the top’’.
Last night a spokesman for News International declined to comment on her allegations.