Leveson Inquiry: Hugh Grant Gives Phone Hacking Evidence (Live Updates)

Hugh Grant Gives Phone Hacking Evidence

Actor Hugh Grant has said he suspects newspapers other than the News of the World of phone hacking.

Speaking in the High Court before the Leveson Inquiry on Monday, the actor alleged that an incorrect news story about a supposed relationship with a "plummy voiced" Hollywood producer, published by the Mail On Sunday, was gained through phone hacking.

His public supposition was the first time that the Mail On Sunday has been publicly accused of phone hacking, and remains speculation.

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"I was thinking how they could have come up with with this bizarre story," he said.

Grant later sued the Mail On Sunday over the story, and won damages.

In a statement, the Mail on Sunday said they "utterly refutes Hugh Grant's claim that they got any story as a result of phone hacking."

The actor also discussed newspapers gaining access to his medical records, and the "appalling" treatment suffered by a former girlfriend who he said was chased and harassed by paparazzi photographers.

He also said the mother of his child was unable to leave her house for three days because of press intrusion.

Grant described the moment that police came to his house and told him that his details had been discovered in Glenn Mulcaire's notebook. He said that the 'corner notes' on the books were redacted and that he was interested to see who had commissioned the phone hacking. He also alleged that the notes related to stories that ran in the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror.

In a lighter moment Grant received smiles from some lawyers at the court when he gave his full name as "Hugh John Mungo Grant". Less than 10 minutes later the name was trending on Twitter.

Earlier, Milly Dowler's parents spoke about to the press standards inquiry triggered by revelations about the hacking of their murdered daughter's phone.

Sally and Bob Dowler, the first witnesses at the Leveson Inquiry, described their fury when they learned that journalists had listened to and deleted their daughter's voicemail messages.

In fact messages from her phone had been deleted by private detective Glenn Mulcaire, working for the News of the World.

"I rang her phone and it clicked through on to her voicemail and I just jumped and said: 'She's picked up her voicemails Bob, she's alive'," Dowler said, raising her voice as she remembered the moment.

"When we heard about the hacking that was the first thing I thought ... I told my friends, 'she's picked up her voicemail, she's picked up her voicemail'".

Mulcaire was jailed along with the News of the World's former royal editor, Clive Goodman, in January 2007 after they admitted intercepting voicemail messages left on phones belonging to royal aides.

Lord Justice Leveson's inquiry will also hear this week from 16 other alleged victims of media intrusion, including actor Hugh Grant, actress Sienna Miller, Harry Potter author JK Rowling and missing Madeleine McCann's father Gerry.

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