Actor Jude Law tells UK phone-hacking trial of hounding by the press

[January 27, 2014]   LONDON (Reuters) —  Film star Jude Law told Britain's phone-hacking trial on Monday that reporters and photographers used to hound him and that they even appeared at events he had organized secretly for his children.

"I became aware I was turning up at places having arranged to go there secretly and the media would already be there," said Law, who is currently appearing on stage in London's West End in a production of Shakespeare's "Henry V".

The jury was told that voicemail messages from Law had been found at the home of Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator for tabloid newspaper the News of the World.

Law, 41, is the most high-profile figure to give evidence for the prosecution at the trial of two former Rupert Murdoch editors on charges of phone-hacking, which began at the end of October last year and is due to last until May.

Smartly dressed in a grey suit, Law said press attention in his private life had increased significantly after he was nominated for an Oscar for "The Talented Mr Ripley" in 2001 and split from his then wife Sadie Frost.

He told London's Old Bailey court that packs of photographers would regularly appear when he was out with his children.

Former News of the World editors Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson are on trial accused of conspiring to illegally intercept voicemail messages on mobile phones.

They are also accused of authorizing illegal payments to public officials while Brooks faces charges of perverting the course of justice by attempting to conceal evidence from police.

Brooks, Coulson and five others deny all the charges.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Stephen Addison)

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