Hugh Grant, slain girl's parents make new hacking claims

(BATKHELA.TK) LONDON: Actor Hugh Grant launched a stinging attack on Britain's tabloids Monday, alleging at an inquiry that phone hacking was used by a non-Rupert Murdoch paper and that a burglary at his flat led to stories.

On a dramatic first day of evidence in Britain's press ethics probe, the parents of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler also said Murdoch's News of the World gave them false hope that she was alive by deleting some of her messages.

Grant, best known for his comic roles in films like "Notting Hill", accused The Mail on Sunday newspaper of running a story on his relationship with socialite Jemima Khan in 2007 that he believed had been obtained by hacking.

The 51-year-old by turns delivered quips that would not have been out of place in his movies; became testy with the line of questioning by the inquiry lawyer; and delivered impassioned criticism of the tabloid press.

His allegation against The Mail on Sunday, owned by the UK's Associated Newspapers group, was the second time the inquiry has heard claims that Murdoch's News of the World was not the only newspaper involved in phone hacking.

Grant said the story -- for which he later won a libel payout -- claimed his relationship with Khan was on the rocks and he was having late-night telephone chats with a "plummy voiced studio executive", but was false.

"I'd love to hear what their source was if it wasn't phone hacking," he said, while admitting that he had no firm evidence for the allegation.

In a statement, a spokesman for the weekly tabloid said it "utterly refutes" the claims, which were "mendacious smears driven by his hatred of the media".

The story "came from a freelance journalist who had been told by a source who was regularly speaking to Jemima Khan."

The financier's daughter then tweeted: "That's not true as the first time I heard anything about this was when I read about it in the MoS.

"The 'source' close to me must be psychic. The MoS claim that he/she gave them a story I knew nothing about till it was in the paper."

Grant also accused another tabloid, the Daily Mirror, owned by Trinity Mirror, of accessing his medical records. (AFP)