Daily Mirror journalists allegedly hired private investigators to target high court judges with illegal information-gathering methods, according to allegations made in the latest round of litigation.
Lawyers representing a group of alleged hacking victims said the Mirror publisher "persecuted everyone to suit his agenda in the most egregious manner, including senior members of the judiciary.".
The lawyers did not name the judges allegedly targeted using illegal methods, but said they tend to be those who "issued anonymity orders in confidentiality proceedings."
They also claimed that the targeting of judges continued until mid-2011, when the collapse of the News of the World created a crisis in the British press and led to the Leveson inquiry.
The charges are the latest in a long-running legal battle against Mirror Group Newspapers over alleged phone hacking, which has already forced the company to make significant payments to a number of celebrities.
David Sherborne, representing a number of plaintiffs including actors John Leslie and Martine McCutcheon, said the Mirror had been forced to release previously undisclosed invoices uncovered by private investigators. He said this included reports of the targeting of judges in the high court and the court of appeal.
Sherborne also asked the court for permission to amend the case against the Mirror, claiming that ITV Good Morning Britain presenter Piers Morgan was “well aware of the extensive use of illegal activities to gather information” while Piers Morgan was editor of the Daily Mirror in the early 2000s.
In court, the plaintiffs said they wanted to cite “numerous instances where Mr. Morgan publicly admitted to the fact that he was well aware of the practice of voicemail monitoring at the time and how widespread its use was.”
Richard Spearman QC, representing the Mirror, objected to Morgan's attempted appeal in the case, saying: "Mr Morgan's alleged knowledge of the extensive use of illegal intelligence gathering activities is irrelevant" to whether the company knew about the alleged phone hacking.
The trial is due to take place in January while similar cases continue against the publisher of the Sun and the News of the World.
