M&S boss Stuart Rose, embroiled in fending off a hostile takeover by Philip Green, claims someone has accessed his mobile phone records.

Rose says he called mmO2 to request his records and discovered there was a security code on his account which he had not authorised. Someone else had requested the records and put the password on the account. The records are important because of allegations that Rose bought 100,000 M&S shares just before the takeover bid by Green was made public.

Rose used his mobile to speak to Green on 7 May and later that day bought the shares. He claims M&S was not mentioned during that call.

A spokesman for mmO2 told The Reg: "We can confirm that we have received a call and are carrying out a detailed investigation into whether or not someone did access information improperly."

The FSA is investigating suspicious share movements and dealings in the days before the deal was announced. The investigators questioned Rose for two hours yesterday.

The Financial Times reports that Rose's wife's bank statements "appear to have been interfered with". ®

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