Leveson inquiry: Max Moseley says government was controlled by Murdoch

Mr Mosley, who was the subject of a News of the World article alleging he had a “sick Nazi orgy”, wanted the European courts to force journalists to notify people before publishing damaging stories about them.

But he had not thought it worth asking the British government to introduce such a law, he told the Leveson Inquiry into press standards.

Explaining why, he said: “The UK government were, to put it bluntly, completely in the thrall of Mr Murdoch and the other big newspaper people, who would have objected.

“That spell has now been broken, I think, fairly conclusively, and I don’t see any reason why such a law should not be brought in.”

The European Court of Human Rights has already rejected Mr Mosley’s suggestion of a law requiring prior notification, but he insisted that in some cases it was “essential”, in order to stop “an egregious breach of privacy”.

Invasion of privacy, he argued, was “worse than burglary” as someone who is burgled can replace their lost belongings and repair the damage.

“If someone breaches your privacy you can never repair the damage, never put it right again,” he said.

Mr Mosley was awarded a record £60,000 in privacy damages at the High Court after taking legal action against the News of the World for its Nazi orgy story published on March 30, 2008 - a story he strongly denied.

But, he said: “Once the information has been made public it can never ever be made private again.”

After the court case he wrote to Rupert Murdoch, who owned the now defunct Sunday tabloid, setting out his concerns, the inquiry heard.

But Mr Mosley never received a reply, he said.

Echoing comments made by Labour MP Tom Watson to Mr Murdoch’s son James at a House of Commons select committee hearing earlier this month, he said: “That to me is the conduct of the mafia.

“It’s what you would expect if you wrote to the head of a mafia family complaining about one of their soldiers. You would probably get no reply.”

Similarly, James Murdoch was accused by phone-hacking campaigner Mr Watson of acting like a “mafia boss” at his second appearance before the Commons Culture Committee’s inquiry into the scandal on November 10.

Mr Mosley also reserved sharp words for Daily Mail editor-in-chief Paul Dacre who, following the “orgy” story, said Mr Mosley was “guilty of unimaginable depravity”, the inquiry was told.

“I have no idea what Mr Dacre’s sex life is,” he said.

“It’s not up to me to go into his bedroom, film him and write about it. It’s his business.

“And equally if somebody has a slightly unusual sex life, exactly the same thing applies.”

mfl 241614 NOV 11