Closing summary
Actor Liz Hurley was “devastated” by the allegation that her home landlines had been tapped, the trial in her legal action against the publisher of the Daily Mail has been told.
Hurley is one of seven people, including the Duke of Sussex, Elton John, Baroness Doreen Lawrence and Simon Hughes, suing the publisher over allegations of unlawful information gathering (UIG). Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) strongly denies wrongdoing and is defending the claims.
The alleged unlawful information gathering in Hurley’s case relates to 15 articles between 2002 and 2011. She said in her written evidence: “The Mail’s unlawful acts against me involve landline tapping my phones and recording my live telephone conversations, placing surreptitious mics on my home windows, stealing my medical information when I was pregnant with Damian and other monstrous, staggering things.”
Hurley continued: “Above all, it was the discovery that The Mail had tapped the landlines of my home phones and tape recorded my live telephone conversations that devastated me. I had not come across this brutal invasion of privacy in either of my two battles with the other newspapers. I felt crushed. It represented the ultimate violation of privacy.”
Hurley became visibly upset in the witness box, crying on several occasions as she was taken through a number of news articles. Giving evidence, she said she did not complain about the articles at the time, because from what she remembered, “complaints were for libel”.
In written submissions for the trial, Antony White KC, for ANL, said the allegations of UIG by Associated’s journalists, “including of phone hacking and phone tapping, in connection with Ms Hurley or her 10 named associates” are “unsupported by the evidence before the court”.
Prince Harry returned to the Royal Courts of Justice in London on Thursday morning, a day after giving his evidence, before leaving the building shortly before 12.45pm.
That’s all from our coverage of the Daily Mail case for today. Thanks for following along.
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Hurley is asked by her own barrister, David Sherborne, about having to answer about friends talking about her in anonymous ways to journalists. She says the idea is “preposterous”.
Asked how she feels about having to come to court, Hurley concludes her evidence by saying: “With all due respect, I don’t really want to be here… I don’t really like talking about things that have happened to me in the past and I find it very painful.”
Other than some legal discussions, the court has now finished for the day.
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