Teenager apologises for hacking Lady Gaga and Justin Timberlake's computers

A teenager from Germany has apologised for hacking into computers owned by Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Kelly Clarkson and Ke$ha.

The teenager, only known as Deniz A, teamed up with a 23 year-old alleged accomplice known as Christian M and infiltrated celebrities' computers with a Trojan Horse programme. They stole unfinished songs and sold them online, managing to secure more €10,000 (£8,514) in doing so.

They are also accused by one musician, thought to be Ke$ha, of attempting to blackmail them with a "sexually compromising photograph".

The pair managed to access confidential files after they attached the Trojan Horse program to an MP3 file that was then sent to the musicians' official addresses, their managers and their record companies.

Deniz A published an open letter yesterday in German newspaper Bild in which he apologised for what he has done.

"I am ashamed of what I have done," he wrote. "I did not think about the consequences. I never thought it would go so far."

German police are still compiling evidence and have yet to press charges, but the man in charge of the case, Duisburg state prosecutor Rolf Haferkam, has told the media that the evidence they have so far "already fills two fat binders".