By Robin Brant
BBC home affairs correspondent
Coronation Street actor Michael Turner has said press intrusion into his life left him feeling “paranoid”.
Mr Turner, who goes by the stage name Michael Le Vell, is one of four people suing Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), accusing it of using unlawful methods.
But the actor admitted some information about him reported by MGN titles was published in other reports at the time.
MGN is contesting the case in the High Court, and denies gathering information about Mr Turner unlawfully.
Mr Turner said the alleged intrusion had a “massive and long lasting” impact.
The star – who has played Kevin Webster in the soap for 40 years – told the court he was a “very private person” who only gave his mobile phone number to “close friends and family”.
Taken through numerous newspaper articles from the early 1990s, Mr Turner repeatedly conceded, “yes, looks that way”, when it was put to him that information he claims came from hacking his voicemail messages had also appeared in other newspaper reports.
On claims that information about the impending birth of his daughter – including the fact she was overdue and his then-wife had suffered some complications – had come from hacking of his voicemail in 1995, Mr Turner conceded that he had given an interview in The Sun where he spoke in detail about the prospect of becoming a father.
“Looks that way, yes,” was his response when it was put to him by MGN’s barrister that he had spoken to the media about it.
Mr Turner told the court that he would likely have passed on such details about the pregnancy in voicemails, to his on-screen wife Sally Dynevor, but the court was also shown a News of the World article from September 1995 that described how he and his wife – who was heavily pregnant at the time – had attended a wedding and been in a pub.
On how details of a burglary at his home in 1993 emerged, and the revelation that his niece had subsequently given him money from her lottery jackpot winnings, Mr Turner was shown a previous article in which he was quoted as saying his wife was “very upset” and describing the “bad world” we live in.
Asked by MGN’s barrister if it was clear he had spoken to a reporter about the break in Mr Turner said: “Yes, looks that way”.
In written evidence, Mr Turner said some colleagues thought he was leaking information to the tabloid press, particularly because he was a trade union representative and was privy to very personal information about them.
He added that many of professional relationships “cooled” after this, and that while many people now “know the truth”, the actions of journalists caused “irreversible damage” to his friendships and reputation.
“I also became extremely paranoid about stories coming out and blamed innocent people close to me. I didn’t know who I could trust,” he said, adding that he started to treat friends with the same level of suspicion he had received from colleagues.
Closing his cross examination, MGN barrister Richard Munden asked Mr Turner about his claim that he’d been labelled a “mole” by fellow Coronation Street actor Craig Charles.
Mr Turner said he was “mortified” by the claim, adding: “Being a mole and leaking is one of the worst things you could do in our business.”
Asked how long Mr Charles had been in the cast of the soap at the time of the alleged exchange, Mr Turner told the court he was “very new” and may have been there only nine to 10 months.
When asked as a final question how he came to think he may have been a victim of phone hacking, over a decade, by journalists at MGN, Mr Turner said: “It just seems to be a few coincidences, let’s say.”
Mr Turner said he only became aware he may have a claim against MGN in May 2020, when Ms Dynevor called him and alerted him to it. His case focuses on 28 articles published by MGN.
Watch: “I’ve never hacked a phone, I wouldn’t even know how” – Piers Morgan (interview filmed in March)
The High Court later heard that Piers Morgan “explained” how to hack a mobile phone and would have “enjoyed” sharing the details while working as the editor of the Daily Mirror.
Former political editor David Seymour said Mr Morgan “mocked” BT’s chief executive about his customers needing to change their PINs.
He previously made this allegation about Mr Morgan during the 2012 Leveson Inquiry into press standards.
Mr Morgan has previously insisted in a BBC interview that he “never told anybody to hack a phone.”
In written evidence, Mr Seymour said he witnessed “the work and behaviour of Mr Morgan on a daily basis at close quarters” while Mr Morgan was the Daily Mirror editor between 1995 and 2004 – during which time Mr Seymour was the newspaper group’s political editor.
“The nature of my role meant that he and I had a very close working relationship,” he said.
“I regard him as unreliable and boastful who was apt to tell untruths when it suited him.”
Mr Seymour went on to describe how on one occasion in 2002, he was told by a colleague that Mr Morgan had attended a lunch hosted by the chairman of the Mirror’s parent company and allegedly told the chief executive of BT – who was also there – that BT customers should change their PIN settings.
“Sitting at my desk in the Mirror offices, I was approached by a journalist I knew, who sat nearby. This person had just come down from one of the chairman’s lunches. My colleague started by saying, ‘you’ll never guess what Piers just said at Victor’s lunch’,” Mr Seymour told the court.
“They then told me that Piers Morgan had mocked/taunted Ben Verwaayen, the CEO of BT who was present, saying something like, ‘you need to tell your customers to change the PIN numbers on their mobile phones from factory settings, because otherwise you can just get into their voicemail messages’.”
When asked in court by Andrew Green KC, who was defending MGN, that the “thrust of your evidence is that Piers Morgan knew how to hack a phone”, Mr Seymour responded: “He explained it!”
Further pressed on the unlikelihood that Mr Morgan would explain how to hack a phone if indeed he had done it or had the knowledge, Mr Seymour said: “Piers Morgan was an extremely boastful person… he would’ve enjoyed” telling BT’s chief executive.
Mr Morgan has not given evidence during the case. Speaking to the BBC ahead of the High Court proceedings, Mr Morgan said: “I’ve never hacked a phone. I’ve never told anybody to hack a phone.”
