Lawyer did not see Gavin Burrows sign Mail phone-hacking confession, court hears

It remains unclear whether Gavin Burrows, who is overseas, will be questioned during the trial. Photograph: BBC

A solicitor who approved a private investigator’s contested confession of bugging, phone tapping and hacking on behalf of the publisher of the Daily Mail did not oversee the document being signed, the high court has heard.

The most serious allegations of unlawful information-gathering against Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL) came from a signed statement made by the private investigator Gavin Burrows.