Key events
The court is taking a short break.
The scale and extent of the unlawful methods were used so frequently they were an integral part of their modus operandi, the obvious go to for every story, Sherborne says.
Journalists, desk heads, deputy editors and editors themselves, including Piers Morgan, used or ordered the use of, the unlawful means, Sherborne says.
The claimants represent a cross-section of claimants but all have one thing in common – they are all victims of unlawful activities which were widespread, Sherborne says.
The activities were known about by the legal department and the Mirror Group’s board, Sherborne says.
Unlawful information gathering was both habitual and widespread across all three of the MGN titles from 1991 to 2011, Sherborne says.
Journalists working on news, nrime, investigations, showbiz, TV, features, picture and sports desks all took part in the unlawful activities, Sherborne says, as well as editors and deputy editors.
It was a flood of illegality, Sherborne says.
The group of victims also contains those caught up in a newsworthy event or were linked to someone of interest.
Fiona Wightman is the final claimant, she is the ex-wife of the comedian Paul Whitehouse and mother of their two children.
The idea that she is a victim of hacking is surreal to her, Sherborne says.
Among methods of targeting Wightman were attempts to “blag” hospitals into providing hospital records about her health, Sherborne says.
The second of the claimants was Michael Turner, one of the longest-serving actors on Coronation Street, known by his stage name Michael Le Vell, who plays the character Kevin Webster on the soap.
Sherborne tells the court stories about the trials and tribulations of Turner’s life were splashed across the Mirror Group newspapers.
Turner is not the only actor among the four claimants, Sherborne says.
The third claimant is Nikki Sanderson, who played a character called Candice in Coronation Street. She was just 15 years old when the Mirror Group Newspapers started to target her, he says.
Sherborne presents an invoice from the “notorious” Southern Investigations, a private detective agency, to the Mirror Group accounts department in relation to Sanderson’s claim.
Ordered by the Mirror’s features desk, the invoice from Southern Investigations are dated 30 March 1999 two days after Sanderson turned 15 years old
Her tenders age was no protection to her, Sherborne Says. Regardless of the impact this had on her, this was just the first we know of the disclosed private investigator instructions related to her.
David Sherborne, the barrister representing Prince Harry and others involved in the claim, is now formally opening the case.
He is outlining the claimants in the case, and who they are and what their claims broadly cover.
The first is the Duke of Sussex, he says. Harry was subjected to the most obtrusive methods to gain information about his life, he says.
Prince or not, the blatantly unlawful methods used to get information about Harry’s life away from his royal duties was quite frankly appalling, Sherborne says.
All the claimants were subjected to the same methods, Sherborne says.
Jim Waterson
Prince Harry will not be in court for the start of the Mirror trial, which will last between six or seven weeks.
The prince flew back to the US immediately after attending his father’s coronation on Saturday but is scheduled to give evidence in person at the start of June.
The initial stages of this trial will deal with broad issues around the extent and knowledge of phone hacking at the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, and People – all titles owned by Mirror Group Newspapers, part of the publishing group Reach.
The company has already paid out more than £100m in settlements and legal fees relating to phone hacking at its titles, with a further £50m set aside to deal with future accusations.
The Mirror’s publisher is trying to stop the ongoing tide of phone hacking claims, which largely relate to alleged illegal behaviour in the 2000s. They argue the claimants have waited too long to start their cases and want a judge to rule that proceedings should come to an end.
Welcome
Good morning, welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of phone hacking claims against Mirror Group Newspapers at the High Court in London.
The case is attracting high levels of interest in part because one of the claimants is Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex and later in the litigation he is expected to become the first senior royal since the 19th century to give evidence in a courtroom.
This is the first of Harry’s three phone-hacking cases against British newspaper groups to go to trial, with the royal waiting to hear whether the courts will allow him to proceed with two separate cases against the parent companies of the Sun and the Daily Mail.
Before proceedings begin, get up to speed with this state of play by our media editor Jim Waterson:
