Prince Harry, Sir Elton John and Elizabeth Hurley are among a group of high-profile celebrities who have launched legal action against the Daily Mail.
Lawyers acting for the group said on Thursday that a group of six individuals, also including David Furnish, Sadie Frost and Baroness Doreen Lawrence are bringing claims for misuse of private information against Associated Newspapers Limited.
The alleged acts which are claimed to have taken place include the hiring of private investigators to secretly place listening devices inside cars and homes and the recording of private phone conversations.
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A statement released by Hamlins law firm also accuses Associated Newspapers of making payments to police "with corrupt links to private investigators" for sensitive information, and alleges that medical information was "obtained by deception" and that bank accounts and financial information was accessed "through illicit means and manipulation".
Hamlins is representing the Prince Harry and Sadie Frost, while the other claimants are represented by law firm Gunnercooke.
The Daily Mail, under then editor Paul Dacre, campaigned for years to bring the murderers of Stephen Lawrence, son of Baroness Lawrence to justice.
Dacre, who returned as editor-in-chief of the Mail's publisher DMG Media in 2021, is the owner of the 17,000 acre Langwell estate near Ullapool.
A spokesman for Associated Newspapers said: "We utterly and unambiguously refute these preposterous smears which appear to be nothing more than a pre-planned and orchestrated attempt to drag the Mail titles into the phone hacking scandal concerning articles up to 30 years old.
"These unsubstantiated and highly defamatory claims, based on no credible evidence, appear to be simply a fishing expedition by claimants and their lawyers, some of whom have already pursued cases elsewhere."
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