NoW group spied on Ulrika’s lawyer

THE News of the World’s publishers asked the price of obtaining information about the young children of a lawyer for alleged phone-hacking victims, the Leveson Inquiry has heard.

Charlotte Harris said she felt “terribly uncomfortable” on seeing documents that revealed she was put under surveillance by News Group Newspapers (NGN) and contained private details about her family.

Her children were aged two and four at the time.

The media lawyer, of leading London firm Mishcon de Reya, who represents alleged hacking victims including Ulrika Jonsson, said the experience had given her an insight into her clients’ lives.

Meanwhile, a Guardian journalist yesterday defended his hacking of the phone of an arms company executive as “perfectly ethical”.

Investigations executive editor David Leigh admitted in an article that he felt a “voyeuristic thrill” in listening to the voicemail messages.

The inquiry also heard yesterday from Steven Nott, who said he tried to warn the authorities about phone hacking in 1999.

Mr Nott, a delivery driver from South Wales, discovered how easy it was to access other people’s voicemails remotely when he needed to pick up messages from customers while Vodafone’s network was down.