Mail writer Katie Nicholl has described the phone-hacking claims levelled against her byPrince Harryand others as “nonsense” and damaging for her career.

Sadie Frost, Liz Hurley, Elton John, David Furnish and Prince Harry are all currently suing Mail publisher Associated Newspapers for breach of privacy and have highlighted a number of articles published in the 2000s and early 2010s which they believe were obtained illegally by Nicholl.

The illegal newsgathering claims are largely based on now recanted evidence from private investigator Gavin Burrows.

The Mail says it has no records relating to Burrows and Nicholl said she had never heard of Burrows let alone worked with him.

Burrows was paid tens of thousands by Prince Harry’s legal research team but has since said he never worked for the Mail and that previous statements attributed to him are false.

Nicholl was diary editor of the Mail on Sunday from 2004 to 2012 and also worked as royal editor of the paper. She continues to writefor the Mail titles, as well as Vanity Fair, on a freelance basis as well as other publications and TV outlets.

In written testimony she said: “I understand that the claimants infer that I hacked phones because articles that I have written contain references to the use of the telephone or messages exchanged by the subjects of the articles, with the example given by Prince Harry and Sadie Frost of a story published in The Mail on Sunday on 18 February 2007 under the headline ‘Hugh, Drew and the jealousy of Jemima’.

“The suggestion that a reference to a telephone call or message indicates I have tapped that person’s landline or hacked their voicemail is nonsense.

“When I refer to calls/text messages in a story it is because I have been told about such calls and text messages by a well-placed source. On occasions I actually had sources who had overheard these phone calls or had been shown text messages –with the subject’s consent (this happened quite often in the case of Prince Harry).

“Referencing calls and texts in my articles was very typical of the style of diary writing. I would include details about late night calls for example to illustrate a certain intimacy between two people.

Source: Press Gazette