Ex-MP denies paying witnesses for evidence against Daily Mail’s publisher in privacy claim

A former executive of pressure group Hacked Off has denied paying witnesses for evidence against a newspaper group.

Former Liberal Democrat MP Evan Harris later said some of the witnesses had been paid as journalistic sources, but denied they had been paid for their statements or to alter their evidence.

These included convicted phone hacker Glenn Mulcaire, who was paid £22,329.50 as part of the group’s investigation into allegations of misconduct at The Mail On Sunday and the Daily Mail, which the newspapers denied.

Dr Harris said he had not made any payments and that his job was to approach potential victims of allegations of media misconduct and persuade them to ‘sue the Mail’.

In her statement in the privacy claim brought against Associated Newspapers, publishers of the Daily Mail and The Mail On Sunday, Dr Harris said she had discussed approaching footballer Gary Lineker because he was a ‘national treasure’ who could attract public sympathy.

He was referred to the High Court by a letter he sent to Four Weddings And A Funeral actor Hugh Grant in March 2016, in which he wrote to Dr. An email was shown in which Harris wrote that it had a “potential Gary Lineker angle.”

Baroness (Doreen) Lawrence, mother of murdered Stephen Lawrence, joins the case at an earlier hearing

Dr Evan Harris was seen arriving at an earlier hearing. He said the email about Lineker ‘was my black humor’, saying: ‘Although I recognized he was a celebrity, at least he was a celebrity who was well regarded’

Dr Harris said Mr Grant, a long-time supporter of Hacked Off, wanted to highlight cases of alleged press misconduct that did not involve celebrities like himself.

He was keen to find ‘ordinary victims’, such as the family of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler; This person’s phone was hacked by defunct tabloid The News Of The World.

In his email to Mr Grant, Dr. Harris wrote that he “contacted the victims and persuaded them to instruct lawyers to file lawsuits by mail.”

He said: ‘So far we’ve got Heather Mills, Simon Hughes and Sadie Frost in the frame.’

Dr Harris wrote it had a ‘potential Gary Lineker angle’ and added: ‘I’m sorry he doesn’t have any dead children but at least he’s a national treasure.’

Cross-examined by Antony White KC for Associated, Dr Harris said: ‘That was my dark humour; ‘Even though I accepted that he was a celebrity, I was saying that at least he was a respected celebrity.’

Dr Harris said Mr Grant did not believe he or actor Steve Coogan should be the ‘poster boys’ for Hacked Off.

But Leveson said they needed to find prominent figures who would rally public support to their calls for the Press Standards Inquiry to be reopened.

High-profile legal action against newspaper groups formed part of this strategy, Dr Harris told the Supreme Court.

In his email to Mr Grant, he said he would contact Mr Lineker, whom he had met twice at Hacked Off events, but expressed concern that the former Match of the Day presenter needed ‘more aggressive’ lawyers because they were ‘expensive wimps’.

During his statement, Dr. Harris said many potential ‘victims’ had been identified but she and other campaigners had not attempted to contact them all, including Mr Lineker, who is not a plaintiff or witness in the case against Associated Newspapers.

Mr Lineker, a father of four, said last year his son George was diagnosed with myeloid leukemia when he was just eight weeks old and doctors believed he had only a few hours to live.

The March 2016 email was revealed in evidence revealed to the High Court after seven public figures, including Prince Harry and Baroness Doreen Lawrence, the mother of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence, launched a privacy case against Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Daily Mail and The Mail On Sunday (TMOS).

Associated denies allegations its journalists engaged in illegal information gathering, including phone hacking, landline tapping and ‘spoiling’ private information.

The lawsuit was brought by Prince Harry, Baroness Lawrence, Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish, former Liberal Democrat MP Sir Simon Hughes and actresses Liz Hurley and Mrs Frost.

Baroness Lawrence, whose son Stephen was murdered by racist thugs, did not join the case until January 2022 after she was contacted by the Duke of Sussex.

Dr Harris, the former MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, was the director of Hacked Off at the time he emailed Mr Grant but is now part of an ‘investigation team’ working for the claimants.

He denied that he and another investigator, former journalist and convicted phone hacker Graham Johnson, paid witnesses in the case for their evidence.

He said Mulcaire and Greg Miskiw (who were also convicted phone hackers) and others had been paid by Mr Johnson as journalistic sources, but insisted none had been paid as witnesses or to alter their evidence.

He was shown a 2015 email exchange with Max Mosley, son of 1930s British fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley; the former Formula 1 boss discussed offering to pay Mulcaire for information.

Hacked Off supporter Mr Mosley, Dr. He told Harris that he had already been in contact with Mulcaire, who had admitted hacking into the Mail to ‘steal stories’, but had consistently denied hacking on their behalf.

Mr Mosley suggested he could meet Mulcaire and ‘try to seduce him’, adding: ‘I can say very clearly: no ticket, no monkee.’

Mr White claimed Mr Mosley, who died in 2021, offered to pay Mulcaire to switch his account.

Dr Harris replied: ‘I think he suggests: [Mulcaire] If a reward was offered – I assume it was a job or a wage – then he might be more forthcoming.’

When asked yesterday what the phrase ‘no ticket’ meant, Dr. Harris replied: ‘That means if you don’t produce you don’t get paid.’

Associated’s Mr White claimed Dr Harris and Mr Johnson had paid witnesses for their evidence.

Dr Harris replied: ‘The allegation that I or he paid for the evidence is not true.’

The case continues.