Liz Hurley sobs in court as she claims her house was bugged and phones were tapped in High Court privacy case

The actress is among a string of celebrities bringing legal action against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) over allegations of unlawful information gathering.

She says she suffered a "brutal" invasion of privacy and claimed phones were tapped and microphones placed around her home, including her windowsill.

The Austin Powers star became very emotional in the witness box as she described how she felt "crushed" by the revelations and that it had been the "ultimate violation of privacy."

Wiping her eyes and nose with a tissue, she was shown some of the articles relating to her claim.

Associated Newspapers denies gathering information illegally against her and the other figures.

'Seething'

In her witness statement, Liz Hurley said the allegation that her home landlines had been tapped "devastated" her.

She said in her written evidence: "The Mail's unlawful acts against me involve landline tapping my phones and recording my live telephone conversations, placing surreptitious mics on my home windows, stealing my medical information when I was pregnant with Damian and other monstrous, staggering things."

Hurley continued: "Above all, it was the discovery that The Mail had tapped the landlines of my home phones and tape recorded my live telephone conversations that devastated me.

"I had not come across this brutal invasion of privacy in either of my two battles with the other newspapers. I felt crushed. It represented the ultimate violation of privacy."

She added: "There's a vast difference - both indefensible - between someone intercepting a voicemail and someone listening in on every single phone call in your home and concealing a tape recorder and attaching it to your home BT wire to record your live telephone conversations.

"I was seething when I discovered The Mail did this to me."

'Deeply hurtful and damaging'

Asked by Antony White KC, who is representing Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), why she did not complain about the 15 articles in her claim at the time they were published between 2002 and 2011, Hurley said it was because from what she remembered, "complaints were for libel".

She added: "They (the articles) were in essence true. I believe that is because people were listening to me speak.

"I know that is not for me to discuss and to give my opinion on."

Hurley said: "There were so many deeply hurtful and damaging articles about me in the media. It became just a business of unpleasantness."

Hurley also told the court that sometimes she would worry if she had said something too loudly, but "there were microphones on the windowsill of my dining room... I was being listened to".

Hurley said: "Yes, there were leaks, but they were not from my friends."

Yesterday in court, the Duke of Sussex was on the verge of tears as he blasted the Daily Mail's publisher for making his "wife’s life an absolute misery".

He became upset as he mentioned his wife Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, as he concluded his evidence on Wednesday at London's High Court.

“They continue to come after me, they have made my wife’s life an absolute misery, my Lord,” he said, with his voice faltering as he spoke of Meghan’s experience.

He added: “Having my life – like others – commercialised in this way since I was a teenager, delving into every aspect of my private life, listening to calls, blagging flights so they could see where I was going...

“To sit here and go through this again and to hear them claim in their defence that I don’t have any right to privacy is disgusting.”

Harry was visibly emotional, sniffling as he left the courtroom.