Hypocrisy of the starts laid bare
They moaned to Leveson about invasion of privacy ... then invaded their own!
DURING the Leveson Inquiry, a stream of celebrities poured into the Royal Courts of Justice to talk about the iniquities of the Press.
Star after star called for tighter regulation on newspapers, telling Lord Justice Leveson how the tabloids had hounded them, made their lives miserable and used every ‘dark art’ imaginable.
But the phone hacking trial has lifted the veil on the other side of the relationship between celebrities and the tabloid Press – and it’s a side Lord Justice Leveson’s cast of famous faces was less eager to discuss.
With combative lawyers prepared to scrutinise the evidence of witnesses, the trial revealed the underbelly of celebrity: how friends, family and even the famous themselves willingly sold stories to the News of the World for money, influence or to extend their own time in the spotlight.
There were revelations about George Best’s son Calum, socialite Tara Palmer-Tomkinson and Eimear Cook, ex-wife of golfer Colin Montgomerie.
It emerged that former Home Secretary David Blunkett complained to a friend that ‘hyenas’ had betrayed him – little suspecting his friend was the one who had tipped off newspapers and would ultimately sell his voicemails to the highest bidder.
And perhaps most dramatically of all, Hollywood star Jude Law was confronted in court with information that a close member of his own family had sold secrets about him. Visibly shaken, the actor said the unnamed male relative had admitted
‘He needs the
publicity’
giving information to the newspaper but said he had not known the man had taken the tabloid’s money.
The jury heard claims the actor had effectively approved a front page story revealing his former fiancée Sienna Miller’s affair with James Bond star Daniel Craig. Law denied he had sanctioned the 2005 article, but the court heard his publicist had asked the tabloid to ‘ back- date’ Miss Miller’s affair with Craig so it would appear she cheated on Law before he was caught out in a fling with his children’s nanny.
In a taped conversation with a journalist, Law’s publicist appeared to be speaking on his behalf when she said: ‘If you could definitely pre-date it so that she cheated first, that’s the thing he wants the most.’
Coulson, then editor of the News of the World, was so confident the article had been signed off by Law that he told subeditors to avoid calling him a ‘love rat’ and emailed a colleague saying: ‘This story is effectively from Jude.’
The affair between Miss Miller and Craig was a key part of the prosecution case. Self- confessed phone hacker Dan Evans claimed he had uncovered the relationship when he hacked the 007 actor’s voicemails. But Miss Miller’s own driver had apparently sold the story to the tabloid for £6,000 after catching the actress at a secret rendezvous with Craig.
There is no dispute that phone hacking happened at the tabloid. Miss Miller, for example, received £100,000 damages from Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers.
But lawyers at the trial set out to show that journalists and newspapers relied on countless legitimate sources to gather information.
The judge told lawyers he was anxious the trial should not unravel into a ‘celebrity chat show’ dominated by star witnesses. Unlike the Leveson Inquiry – which faced criticism that it gave celebrities a platform to make any complaint about the Press they chose, seemingly without challenge – trial witnesses had their evidence scrutinised to the standards of a criminal trial.
Among the startling revelations:
CALUM BEST
The son of footballer George Best admitted he had ‘actively encouraged’ some media intrusion into his personal life. The 33-year-old pocketed £2,000 from the News of the World for the story of his own sordid nightclub tryst with Mick Jagger’s daughter Elizabeth. He also passed on stories about his friends. Mr Justice Saunders said: ‘Calum Best is a full-time “celebrity”. He needs publicity in order to remain a full-time “celebrity”. He sometimes supplies information to the Press himself.’
TARA PALMER-TOMKINSON
Prince Charles’ goddaughter was revealed as one of the News of the World’s sources for information about the Royal Family. Former royal editor Clive Goodman ‘outed’ her as the source for its story about Prince William’s 21st birthday party at Windsor Castle being gatecrashed by ‘comedy terrorist’ Aaron Barschak in 2003. Then Andy Coulson confirmed the newspaper had paid a ‘female’ source for this story – and other royal scoops – although he did not name Miss Palmer-Tomkinson.
SIENNA MILLER
Miss Miller – hailed as a ‘hacking heroine’ when she took civil action against the News of the World and gave evidence to Leveson – used her time as a witness to complain once again about media coverage of the evidence surrounding her ‘very brief encounter’ with Daniel Craig. ‘This is a really difficult and uncomfortable part of my life to discuss, seeing as it’s been allowed out of the courtroom and into the hands of the world’s media to be gossiped [over] and analysed, and me vilified for it,’ she said. It’s been turned into this titillating piece of information. I really regret that it has been allowed to be analysed in the way that it has.’
Trial judge Mr Justice Saunders said he was sorry if coverage had upset Miss Miller but assured her the evidence had been necessary. He did not say – but some in the courtroom could be forgiven for thinking – that the actress’ hurt feelings were not his priority in a complex trial in which seven people’s reputations and liberty hung in the balance.
EIMEAR COOK
The ex-wife of golfer Colin Montgomerie denied claims she had told Brooks about a ‘violent event’ during her 14year marriage in the hope Brooks would expose her exhusband in the Sun.
Mrs Cook, who accepted a payout from the News of the World for phone hacking, denied she had invented her evi dence t o boost her civil claim for aggravated damages.
She was accused of telling a ‘bare-face lie’ in her evidence, when she claimed Brooks had told her it was ‘easy’ to hack phones.
Mrs Cook, 43, said Brooks told her about phone hacking at a meeting in 2005 in which the then Sun editor had also laughed about her own arrest for an alleged assault on her then husband, East-Enders actor Ross Kemp.
Mrs Cook was accused of lying when it emerged that Brooks’ arrest did not take place until several weeks after the meeting.