Piers Morgan knew how to hack phones and explained how, former Mirror journalist tells High Court
Piers Morgan knew how to hack phones and explained how to do it, a former Mirror journalist has told the High Court.
David Seymour, the group political editor of the newspaper from 1993 to 2007, gave evidence in the trial against publishers Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), brought by claimants including Prince Harry.
Mr Seymour told the court that while he had no personal knowledge of phone hacking during his time at the Mirror, he did have experience of the “work and behaviour” of Mr Morgan, who he described as an “extremely boastful” person.
Prince Harry gave evidence in his case earlier on in the trial
In his witness statement submitted to the court, Mr Seymour said he “came to learn of some of the dubious methods being used to get stories” during Mr Morgan’s time in charge, between 1995 and 2004.
Describing an incident that followed a chairman’s lunch in 2002, Mr Seymour said he was approached by a colleague as he sat at his desk.
“My colleague started by saying: ‘You’ll never guess what Piers just said’,” Mr Seymour wrote in his statement.
The colleague told Mr Seymour that Mr Morgan had “mocked” the then chief executive of BT, “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’.
“My colleague then explained to me how it was done – in fact they had to explain three or four times since I am not technically literate, and I still wasn’t sure how phone hacking was done by the end of our conversation.
“My colleague also told me that everyone else at the table heard what Piers had said.”
‘Truth never emerged’ about Princess Diana story
Mr Seymour said he had “no reason to doubt the veracity” of what his colleague had told him, and said he recalled the conversation “very well” as his colleague “was so shocked”.
In court, MGN’s lawyer Richard Munden asked Mr Seymour why Mr Morgan would speak about this kind of thing openly. Mr Seymour told the court that Mr Morgan was “boastful” and would “behave foolishly” at times.
The former political journalist also gave details about a story written about Princess Diana, which included a photo of her crying after a visit to her “saviour” friend and therapist as she dealt with her divorce from Prince Charles, now the King.
Mr Seymour spoke about the article in court, and said in his witness statement: “The article clearly suggests to readers, and the public, that Princess Diana was upset because of the problems she faced in her life, and having unburdened herself to her therapist.”
However, Mr Seymour said that a few days after the story was published, he remembers seeing Mr Morgan and others watching a video which had been taken by a paparazzi photographer present at the time, which showed why Diana was really upset – after being “hounded up and down the street by a baying, cat-calling mob of photographers” from a number of different press organisations.
Mr Seymour said in his statement that “the truth never emerged” about how the story was obtained and he was “upset and ashamed that we had printed something so cruel, intrusive and false”. He said Mr Morgan understood the significance of the video, writing in his statement that the then editor said: “If this gets out, we’re finished.”
‘Craig Charles thought I was a Coronation Street mole’
Michael Turner, who plays Kevin Webster in Coronation Street and is known professionally as Michael Le Vell, is the fourth claimant to give evidence
The bulk of the evidence on Monday came from Coronation Street actor Michael Turner, who plays Kevin Webster in the soap and is known professionally as Michael Le Vell.
Asked by MGN’s lawyer Mr Munden why he is convinced he was the victim of unlawful information gathering, the actor responded: “There just seems to be a few coincidences, let’s say.”
He continued: “To be honest, I never really thought about it until someone got in touch with me to point things out.”
The actor’s claim concerns 28 articles published between 1991 and 2011, covering a range of stories – including a burglary at his home and the births of his children, as well as his arrest for suspected sexual offences, which he was later cleared of, in 2011.
During cross-examination by MGN’s lawyer, Mr Turner conceded that some details included in stories he has complained about were available publicly.
He told how his Corrie co-stars thought he was a “mole” – and said in his witness statement that he said at the time he found this “more offensive than being called a sex offender”.
In court, he said: “Being a mole or leaking was one of the worst things you could do in our business.”
He went on to say he was “mortified” that his former co-star Craig Charles, best known for starring in Red Dwarf, thought he had been leaking information.
Asked to clarify whether he genuinely thought this was worse than being accused of sexual offences, he replies: “It’s not, obviously.” Mr Turner told the court he said this to emphasise the severity of the accusation and how awful he felt about it.
Mr Turner was later accused himself of a sexual offence, in 2011, but was cleared.
The actor is among more than 100 individuals suing MGN – publisher of the Daily and Sunday Mirror and the Sunday People – for compensation over claims its journalists were linked to phone hacking, so-called “blagging” or gaining information by deception and the use of private investigators for unlawful activities.
The actor’s case is one of four representative claims being heard at the High Court in London, alongside similar claims brought by the Duke of Sussex, Hollyoaks and former Coronation Street actress Nikki Sanderson, and Fiona Wightman – the ex-wife of comedian Paul Whitehouse.
MGN denies Mr Turner’s claim, arguing there is “no evidence” of voicemail interception or unlawful information gathering relating to him.
Mr Munden has told the court that Mr Turner’s case is “particularly weak”, with articles in the claim published before phone hacking started, or when it had “significantly dropped off”.
Mr Turner’s evidence is due to resume on Tuesday and the case is expected to conclude by the end of the month, with a ruling expected at a later date.
Entertainment
Ex-Abercrombie & Fitch chief executive Mike Jeffries ‘unfit to stand trial due to dementia’, prosecutors and defence team say
Abercrombie & Fitch’s former chief executive is not fit to stand trial on sex trafficking charges as he is suffering from dementia, both prosecutors and his lawyers have said.
Mike Jeffries has Alzheimer’s disease, Lewy body dementia and the “residual effects of a traumatic brain injury”, his defence attorneys wrote in a letter filed at a federal court in Central Islip, New York.
The 80-year-old needs around-the-clock care, they added, citing evaluations by medical professionals.
Prosecutors and defence lawyers are calling for Jeffries to be placed in the custody of the federal bureau of prisons for up to four months. They say he should be admitted to hospital to have treatment that could allow his criminal case to proceed.
The business tycoon, who led fashion retailer A&F from 1992 to 2014, pleaded not guilty to federal sex trafficking and interstate prostitution charges in October, and was released on a $10m (£7.65m) bond.
A total of 15 men allege they were induced by “force, fraud and coercion” to engage in drug-fuelled sex parties.
Prosecutors have accused Jeffries, his partner Matthew Smith, and the couple’s alleged “recruiter” James Jacobson, of luring men to parties in New York City, the Hamptons and other locations, by dangling the prospect of modelling for A&F advertisements.
Smith and Jacobson have also pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.
‘Progressive and incurable’
In their latest letter on Jeffries’ health, his defence lawyers said at least four medical professionals had concluded his cognitive issues are “progressive and incurable”, and that he will not “regain his competency and cannot be restored to competency in the future”.
These issues “significantly impair” his ability to understand the charges against him, they wrote.
Jeffries’ partner Matthew Smith, pictured outside the court in December, has also pleaded not guilty. Pic: AP
Read more from Sky News:
Tech executive and family die after helicopter crashes in New York
‘Wolf of Wall Street’ speaks to Sky News about Trump tariffs
“The progressive nature of his neurocognitive disorder ensures continued decline over time, further diminishing his already limited functional capacity,” said Dr Alexander Bardey, a forensic psychiatrist, and Dr Cheryl Paradis, a forensic psychologist, following evaluations made in December.
“It is, therefore, our professional opinion, within a reasonable degree of psychological and psychiatric certainty, that Mr Jeffries is not competent to proceed in the current case and cannot be restored to competency in the future.”
Jeffries left A&F in 2014 after leading the company for more than two decades, taking the retailer from a hunting and outdoor goods store founded in 1892 to a fixture of early 2000s fashion.
His lawyers did not immediately respond to requests by the Associated Press news agency for comment. The US attorney’s office for the eastern district of New York declined to comment.
A British version of long-running US sketch show Saturday Night Live (SNL) will be coming to Sky next year.
An American pop culture institution, SNL launched the careers of stars including Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Eddie Murphy, Kristen Wiig and Will Ferrell.
Donald Trump on a Mothers Day episode SNL in 1993. Pic: AP
It’s also featured a host of celebrity and political guests, including tech billionaire Elon Musk and Donald Trump when he was a presidential candidate.
SNL celebrated 50 years on air in February.
British comedians will be cast in the UK spin-off, which will be overseen by US producer Lorne Michaels alongside the US version.
Along with his production company Broadway Video, which has made The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and 30 Rock, the show will be led by UK production team Universal Television Alternative Studio.
The beginnings of SNL, which started in 1975, was recently made into the 2024 film Saturday Night, featuring Spider-Man star Willem Dafoe and Succession actor Nicholas Braun.
The success of SNL, which airs on NBC in the US, has led to past attempts at international versions of the programme, with a French version Le Saturday Night Live running for just one season in 2017.
OJ Simpson on SNL in 1978 with Gilda Radner (L), and Jane Curtin. Pic: AP
Cecile Frot-Coutaz, chief executive of Sky Studios and chief content officer at Sky, said: “For over 50 years Saturday Night Live has held a unique position in TV and in our collective culture, reflecting and creating the global conversation, all under the masterful comedic guidance of Lorne Michaels.
“The show has discovered and nurtured countless comedy and musical talents over the years and we are thrilled to be partnering with Lorne and the SNL team to bring an all-British version of the show to UK audiences next year – all live from London on Saturday night.”
Saturday Night Live UK will be broadcast on Sky Max and streaming service NOW in 2026.
Details about the UK version’s cast, hosts, and premiere will be announced in the coming months.
Entertainment
Wolf Hall director on streaming levies: ‘The government needs the guts to stand up to the bully in the White House’
The director of hit BBC period drama Wolf Hall says the government “needs to have enough guts to stand up to the bully in the White House” to protect the future of public service broadcasting.
Peter Kosminsky told Sky News’ Breakfast with Anna Jones that calls for a streaming levy to support British high-end TV production was urgently needed to stop the “decimation” of the UK industry.
His comments follow the release of a new report from the Culture, Media and Sport (CMS) committee, calling for the government to improve support measures for the UK’s high-quality drama sector while safeguarding the creation of distinctly British content.
Specifically, the report calls for streamers – including Netflix, Amazon, Apple TV+ and Disney+, all of which are based in the US – to commit to paying 5% of their UK subscriber revenue into a cultural fund to help finance drama with a specific interest to British audiences.
Kosminsky, who made the case for the levy and gave evidence to the committee in January, called global tariffs recently introduced by Donald Trump “the elephant in the room”.
He said he feared they would make the government reticent to introduce a streaming levy, but said it was a necessary step to “defend a hundred years of honourable tradition of public service broadcasting in this country and not see it go to the wall because [the government are] frightened of the consequences from the bully in the States”.
The second series of Wolf Hall, starring Mark Rylance (L) and Damian Lewis, nearly didn’t happen. Pic: BBC
Kosminsky also noted that the streamers would be able to apply for money from the fund themselves, as long as they were in co-production with a UK public service broadcaster.
Earlier this year, a White House memorandum referenced levies on US streaming services, calling them “one-sided, anti-competitive policies” that “violate American sovereignty”.
In response to the call for streaming levies, a Netflix spokesperson said such a move would “penalise audiences” and “diminish competitiveness”.
They added: “The UK is Netflix’s biggest production hub outside of North America – and we want it to stay that way.”
The Association for Commercial Broadcasters and On-Demand Services (COBA) said such a levy “risks damaging UK growth and the global success story of the UK TV sector,” and “would risk dampening streamers’ existing investment in domestic content and would inevitably increase costs for businesses”.
Pic: BBC
COBA said it welcomed the committee’s support for targeted tax breaks for domestic drama.
Kosminsky also told Sky News the second series of Wolf Hall was nearly called off just six weeks before it was due to start shooting due to financial pressures, adding: “It was only because the producer, the director, writer and the leading actor all agreed to take huge cuts in their own remuneration that the show actually got made.”
He said that both he and the show’s executive producer, Sir Colin Callender, had “worked on the show unpaid for 11 years on the basis that we would get a payment when the show went into production”, calling it “a bitter blow” to see that disappear.
Working in public service broadcasting for his entire career, Kosminsky said it was “absolutely heartbreaking for me and others like me to see that the industry we have been nurtured by and we care about is being decimated”.
While he said he was a “huge fan of the streamers”, he said it was their “very deep pockets” that had “driven up the price of what we do”, to the point where the traditional broadcasters can no longer afford to make high-end television.
Adolescence. Pic: Netflix
Just this week, Adolescence, created by British talent Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham, became the fourth most popular English-language series in Netflix’s history with 114 million views.
But while some very British shows might get taken on by the streamers due to universal appeal, Kosminsky said dramas including ITV’s Mr Bates Vs The Post Office and Hillsborough, and BBC drama Three Girls about the grooming of young girls by gangs in the north of England were examples of game-changing productions that could be lost in the future.
He warned: “These are not dramas that the streamers would ever make, they’re about free speech in this country. That’s part of what we think of as a democratic society, where we can make these dramas and programmes that challenge on issues of public policy that would never be of any interest in America.”
Mr Bates vs the Post Office. Pic: ITV/Shutterstock
The CMS report comes following an inquiry into British film and high-end television, which considered how domestic and inward investment production was being affected by the rise of streaming platforms.
Chairwoman of the CMS committee, Dame Caroline Dinenage, said “there will be countless distinctly British stories that never make it to our screens” unless the government intervenes to “rebalance the playing field” between streamers and public service broadcasters (PSBs).
A DCMS spokesperson said: “We acknowledge the challenges facing our brilliant film and TV industry and are working with it through our Industrial Strategy to consider what more needs to be done to unlock growth and develop the skills pipeline. We thank the committee for its report which we will respond to in due course.”
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway