Sadie Frost says Mail put ‘price on my head’ for stories

Sadie Frost said the Daily Mail had put a “bounty on my head” for stories as she told the court she was “violated” by journalists who allegedly hacked into her voicemail for information.

The actress became emotional as she testified in her lawsuit against the newspaper’s publisher, including a reporter’s claim that she learned about the end of her pregnancy through a private investigator.

He told the High Court he knew “100%” that the other stories were obtained through hacking because his voicemails were matched “word for word”. In a written statement, he said the alleged activity made him believe he “couldn’t trust anyone.”

Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) has denied any wrongdoing involving Frost and six other plaintiffs, including Prince Harry.

In court, Frost accused Mail reporters of wiretapping a call made to her then-husband, actor Jude Law, in 2002, which revealed her two-year-old daughter had swallowed part of an ecstasy tablet at a children’s party. Frost burst into tears as she remembered the subsequent press attention.

In her statement, she said she was “embarrassed” when she learned that her landline had been allegedly tapped, adding that it had brought “pain” to her and her children.

Frost and other plaintiffs accused Associated Newspapers of “serious invasions of privacy” over a 20-year period.

Her claim relates to 11 articles and two “episodes” of alleged illegal collection of information for unpublished articles, including one about her pregnancy.

David Sherborne, representing Frost, said she discovered she was pregnant in 2003, which was unplanned and was later terminated. She said she only disclosed the termination to her father, Jackson Scott, and “maybe” a close friend.

The barrister claimed Katie Nicholl, then the Mail on Sunday’s showbiz editor, “must have learned” of the situation through illegal doxxing. He added that his notes belonged to a private detective who demanded £400 from him.

Antony White KC, for the publisher, said the payment was not linked to the pregnancy and that Nicholl had been informed about the pregnancy by a freelance journalist with sources close to Frost.

During cross-examination, Frost told the court: “There was obviously a bounty on my head. The Daily Mail had said they were interested in Sadie Frost.”

When White suggested that Frost’s family members had tipped off the press and that this would “probably” encourage his friends to do the same, Frost said he disagreed.

Concluding his statement, he said it was “challenging and very sad to have to relive what I don’t want to relive.”

She said: “It makes me sad for my children to see what I’ve been through but they’ve been so supportive and I did this for them.”

In his written statement, Frost said the publisher was “very angry” and “thought it was normal to profit from someone who suffered so much without thinking about me or my children.”

He said he did not know he had a potential claim against the broadcaster until 2019 and that ANL “must be held accountable”.

White argued that Frost’s allegations were “completely unfounded in the evidence before the court.” He said the stories were obtained from “completely legitimate” sources and that his social circle was known to be “leaky”, with family members regularly providing information to the press.

He said the plaintiffs were “hanging on” and that the claims were brought too late.

Privacy lawsuits generally must be filed within six years of the alleged breach, unless victims can show that they cannot sue at that time.

Other plaintiffs in the lawsuit against ANL are:

• Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish
• Actress Liz Hurley
• Sir Simon Hughes, former Liberal Democrat MP
• Baroness Doreen Lawrence, campaigner whose son Stephen Lawrence was killed in a racist attack in south London in 1993

They accused ANL of “clearly, systematically and consistently collecting illegal information”, including private detectives and bullshitters, for stories between 1993 and “beyond” 2018.

ANL denied allegations of illegal collection of information.

The trial is ongoing and is expected to last nine weeks.