Press had ‘unhealthy’ interest in Law’s life

Actor Jude Law has told a jury that the media had “an unhealthy amount of information” about his life and that packs of photo- graphers would follow him around even when he made secret arrangements.

Giving evidence at the phone-hacking trial at the Old Bailey, the 41-year-old Alfie star described how press attention began to intensify when he was nominated for an Oscar for The Talented Mr Ripley in 2001.

It grew throughout his divorce from Sadie Frost and then during his relationship with actress Sienna Miller, he told the court.

Law said: “There seemed to be an unhealthy amount of information that people, or someone, had that meant they had access to my life and my whereabouts.”

He said when police showed him notes that private investigator Glenn Mulcaire held about him, he “was shocked to see the amount of information that had been accumulated”, but he added: “Sadly it didn’t surprise me because it seemed apparent from what had been written [in the press].” Law said that from around 2001 photographers would gather at his home.

“Around 2001 and over the following four or five years the daily appearance of photographers either on the street or in cars became a very regular occurrence.”

He added: “I became aware that I was also turning up at places having arranged to go there secretly... and the media were already there, or photographers were already there.”

A close member of Law’s family was leaking information to the News of the World for money in 2005, the court heard.

Law was quizzed by former editor Andy Coulson’s lawyer, Timothy Langdale, about a story about Sienna Miller, his them girlfriend, having an affair with actor Daniel Craig.

Asked if he was aware at any time that a member of his “immediate family” was talking to the newspaper, he said: “I was aware later around 2011, maybe later than that, at the time I was approached about the case that the News of the Word had been in contact with people in my family, trying to find things out, asking for quotes.”

Asked if he knew the family member was getting paid, he said: “I have never been aware of that.”

Jude Law says he recently had conversation with the "relative" who had passed info to NoW but it was new to him that he/she had been paid

— Lisa O'Carroll (@lisaocarroll) January 27, 2014

He told the court he first became aware of rumours of the affair around the time the couple went to Ms Miller’s sister’s wedding and Law was shown News of the World articles headlined “Sienna Cheats On Jude” and “Layer Fake”.

He told the court he had telephoned Craig to confront him about the affair and suggested he tell his own girlfriend about it. But he could not remember whether that was before or after the paper broke the story and he had not left a voicemail about it.

Asked if he was aware that anyone around him was leaking stories, he said: “No, I did not know that anyone around me was talking to the newspapers, although I suspected it because there was such a flow of information... I suspected many people over that period of time.” The lawyer wrote down a name of a source on a piece of paper to show the witness. “I was made aware very recently that there had been some kind of communication with this person and several others in and around and about this period of time. I was never aware any money had been exchanged.”

Coulson denies charges relating to phone hacking and corrupt payments.