Heather Mills yesterday denied playing Piers Morgan a telephone message from her former husband Sir Paul McCartney.
In a statement, the former Lady McCartney directly contradicted evidence which Mr Morgan gave to the Leveson Inquiry into journalistic standards.
She said she could "categorically state" she had "never ever" played Mr Morgan, the former editor of the Daily Mirror, "a tape of any kind, never mind a voice message from my ex-husband".
The statement undermined Mr Morgan’s bullish performance at the inquiry, which was further called into question by evidence from a former employee.
James Hipwell, who was convicted and jailed for share price manipulation, said Mr Morgan must have known about mobile phone hacking by journalists working for him as it was so commonplace.
He told Lord Justice Leveson’s inquiry that hacking was so widespread it was “a bog-standard journalistic tool”.
Hipwell, who was described during the hearing as “an acknowledged liar”, said he had seen showbusiness reporters for the paper hack phones “every day” to get stories and said Mr Morgan must have known about it.
He said: “Looking at his style of editorship, I would say it was very unlikely that he didn't know it was going on because there wasn't ever much he didn't know about.
“He took a very keen interest in the work of his journalists. Showbusiness is very close to his heart.”
He also disclosed that a colleague had attempted to hack the phone of Mr Morgan himself but he did not know if it had been successful.
Hipwell, who worked at the newspaper between 1998 and 2000, added: "The openness and frequency of their hacking activities gave me the impression that hacking was considered a bog-standard journalistic tool for getting information."
He said: "I don't think the illegality of it was ever even considered. It just seemed to be fair game, fair play, any means to get a story."
Mr Hipwell was given a six-month prison sentence in February 2006 for making nearly £41,000 by mentioning stocks in the Daily Mirror's City Slickers column and then selling them as values rose.
Mr Morgan, who hosts a chat show on the CNN network in the US, insisted on Tuesday that he had never listened to illegally obtained telephone messages while editor of either the Daily Mirror or the News of the World.
Instead, he suggested that a private message left by Sir Paul on his former wife Heather Mills’s voicemail, which was played to him and featured the musician singing We Can Work It Out, had been leaked by her.
When pressed by Robert Jay QC, the counsel to the inquiry, Mr Morgan refused to say when or where he heard the message because he wanted to protect a “source”.
The potentially damaging claims against Mr Morgan were among several related developments which took place yesterday.
Andy Coulson, David Cameron’s former director of communications and a former editor of the News of the World, lost his battle at the High Court to get News Group Newspapers, a News International subsidiary, to pay his legal fees over the phone hacking scandal.
However, Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator employed by the News of the World, won a similar action against NGN which means they must continue to pay his legal fees because they had wrongly terminated an agreement between them to do so.
In his ruling, Sir Andrew Morritt, the Chancellor of the High Court, said: “They are, as they always were, in it together."
The inquiry was adjourned until January 9.
He said: “Looking at his style of editorship, I would say it was very unlikely that he didn't know it was going on because there wasn't ever much he didn't know about.
“He took a very keen interest in the work of his journalists. Showbusiness is very close to his heart.”
He also disclosed that a colleague had attempted to hack the phone of Mr Morgan himself but he did not know if it had been successful.
Hipwell, who worked at the newspaper between 1998 and 2000, added: "The openness and frequency of their hacking activities gave me the impression that hacking was considered a bog-standard journalistic tool for getting information."
He said: "I don't think the illegality of it was ever even considered. It just seemed to be fair game, fair play, any means to get a story."
Mr Hipwell was given a six-month prison sentence in February 2006 for making nearly £41,000 by mentioning stocks in the Daily Mirror's City Slickers column and then selling them as values rose.
Mr Morgan, who hosts a chat show on the CNN network in the US, insisted on Tuesday that he had never listened to illegally obtained telephone messages while editor of either the Daily Mirror or the News of the World.
Instead, he suggested that a private message left by Sir Paul on his former wife Heather Mills’s voicemail, which was played to him and featured the musician singing We Can Work It Out, had been leaked by her.
When pressed by Robert Jay QC, the counsel to the inquiry, Mr Morgan refused to say when or where he heard the message because he wanted to protect a “source”.
The potentially damaging claims against Mr Morgan were among several related developments which took place yesterday.
Andy Coulson, David Cameron’s former director of communications and a former editor of the News of the World, lost his battle at the High Court to get News Group Newspapers, a News International subsidiary, to pay his legal fees over the phone hacking scandal.
However, Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator employed by the News of the World, won a similar action against NGN which means they must continue to pay his legal fees because they had wrongly terminated an agreement between them to do so.
In his ruling, Sir Andrew Morritt, the Chancellor of the High Court, said: “They are, as they always were, in it together."
The inquiry was adjourned until January 9.
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