Thanks for following our live coverage of the civil action brought by Prince Harry and others who claim Mirror Group Newspapers published stories about them based on information gained from hacking phone voicemails and other "unlawful practices".

As we've been hearing, the Mirror Group's lawyer has argued that the claimants are "a very long way" from proving their cases, and also said some of the claims have been brought before the court too late - they are in legal-speak "out of time".

You can read our news story on today's proceedings in the High Court here.

Today's writers were James Gregory at the High Court, with Jamie Whitehead, Aoife Walsh and Jennifer McKiernan. The editors were Alys Davies and Rob Corp.

The third day of the High Court hearing over alleged phone hacking claims against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) has wrapped up.

The claims have been brought by Prince Harry and three other high-profile claimants, represented by barrister David Sherborne KC.

This morning, Sherborne alleged that unlawful information-gathering practices - including hacking voicemails - to obtain private information had been covered up at the paper.

This was after he alleged on Thursday that such illicit activities were "widespread" and "authorised at the highest level" at the Mirror Group - which has denied using voicemail interception in these cases.

This afternoon we heard from the Mirror Group's lawyer, Andrew Green KC, who said the latest claims are of a "breath-taking level of triviality" and claimants were "smearing" executives by accusing the board of lies to cover up hacking.

Green argued that the claims before the court in this hearing are essentially out of time - and that they should have been brought earlier. Our legal correspondent Dominic Casciani explained that claims for damages should be brought within six years of the alleged victim knowing what happened.

Later, Green made the case that "any reasonable person" would have been aware of the phone hacking scandal that shut down the News of the World in 2011.

He said two of the claimants, Nikki Sanderson and Fiona Wightman, could have brought a claim against the Mirror Group years earlier.

He cited coverage of a 2015 civil trial in which the publisher was found to have hacked the phones of eight celebrities - but he argued they have now run out of time to sue for damages.

The hearing continues on Monday.

James Gregory
Reporting from the High Court

Andrew Green KC is now playing a BBC report from media correspondent David Sillito about the 2015 High Court action brought against the Mirror Group by Coronation Street actress Shobna Gulati and seven other claimants who sought damages after claiming their phones were hacked.

Green says it was "a massive public moment" and "one of largest public scandals for decades".

The trial is wrapping up for the day and will resume on Monday at 10:30 BST.

James Gregory
Reporting from the High Court

MGN's barrister Andrew Green KC says the cumulative knowledge gained by extensive coverage of phone hacking at MGN in the early 2010s would have been enough for the claimants to recognise the possibility that they too may have been victims - even if the claimants were led to believe friends and family were behind the information leaks.

He points to reports about the arrests of senior journalists in March 2013, the public admission by MGN of phone hacking in September 2014 and the verdict of the High Court case against the Mirror Group in May 2015 in which eight high-profile claimants were awarded damages after the court ruled their phones had been hacked.

James Gregory
Reporting from the High Court

Green is now taking the court through the timeline when claims of phone hacking came to light.

He says the claimants would have had some awareness of media coverage of phone hacking prior to July 2011 - when the News of the World closed down.

He says there was "enormous media coverage" after the Guardian's report that murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler's voicemails had been hacked.

"It is self evident that any reasonably attentive person would have been aware of the media coverage of phone hacking at News of the World," Green says.

He goes on to reference accusations of unlawful information gathering made against Mirror group during the Leveson inquiry, and says: "A reasonably attentive person - such as the claimants - would have acquired some awareness of the inquiry and that MGN was being accused of phone hacking and [unlawful information gather] but it was denying it."

James Gregory
Reporting from the High Court

Mirror Group's lawyer, Andrew Green KC, says one of the claimants, Nikki Sanderson, does not claim to have even read most of the Mirror group articles listed in the case at the time of publication.

Green says claims that Sanderson was "put off the scent" by reference to "friends" and "pals" in the articles, and "thrown off the scent" by the public denials of unlawful information gathering by the publisher, are "quite difficult to sustain".".

Dominic Casciani
Legal Correspondent

Mirror Group News' lawyers say two of the claimants, Nikki Sanderson and Fiona Wightman, have run out of time to sue for damages.

Claims for damages should be brought within six years of the alleged victim knowing what happened. That legal bar prevents cases being launched years and years late, to prevent unfair and unjust outcomes.

So the fundamental question in this case is when could the alleged victims reasonably have suspected they had been targets of hacking and other illegal snooping into their lives?

The publisher says that tabloid voicemail interception has been talked about for at least 20 years. The Mirror Group publicly apologised for its part in the scandal in 2014.

So its lawyers argue any potential victim could "with reasonable diligence" have known enough long ago to get a case started. The claimants say that doesn't run in this case.

They allege that the Mirror group did such a good job, for so long, in covering up wrongdoing that reasonable people simply couldn't have known or suspected the truth - which is why the affair is still going on today.

James Gregory
Reporting from the High Court

Green says the burden of proof is on Sanderson and Whiteman to establish that it would have taken "exceptional measures" for either of them to find out the relevant facts more than six years before they brought their claims against Mirror group.

"Their position is neither of them could have established the relevant facts before then without taking exceptional measures," he says.

Green argues that an internet search is not an exceptional measure and would have established the facts of their respective claims.

James Gregory
Reporting from the High Court

The Mirror Group's barrister, Andrew Green KC, says two of the claimants - actress Nikki Sanderson and Fiona Whiteman (ex-wife of comedian Paul Whitehouse) - had "constructive knowledge" of the facts of their cases years before they brought claims against MGN.

He says Sanderson, who brought the claims against MGN in December 2020, had constructive knowledge in 2014.

He adds she could have known with "reasonable diligence" to bring the case many years earlier. Likewise, he says Whiteman, who brought the claim in July 2021, had constructive knowledge in 2015.

Green says the limitation period for both of these claims has expired.

James Gregory
Reporting from the High Court

The hearing is back under way this Friday afternoon after a lunch break.

Image source, PA Media

Barrister David Sherborne, representing the celebrity claimants in this case, is no stranger to the spotlight.

Sherborne has worked on many high profile cases during his career - the so-called Wagatha Christie trial last year being the most recent.

He represented Coleen Rooney, who was being sued by Rebekah Vardy over claims she leaked private information about her to the Sun newspaper.

But Rooney is only one of Sherborne's long list of famous clients.

In 2020, Sherborne represented actor Johnny Depp in his unsuccessful libel case against the Sun over an article that called him a "wife beater".

That same year, he acted for Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, during her successful case against the Mail on Sunday and MailOnline for invasion of privacy and copyright infringement.

And he was a notable figure during the Leveson Inquiry - acting as counsel for 51 victims of press intrusion, including author JK Rowling and actor Hugh Grant.

We're on day three of a High Court trial over alleged phone hacking claims against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN).

The claims have been brought by Prince Harry and three celebrity claimants, represented by David Sherborne.

First up today, Sherborne alleged that unlawful information gathering practices - including hacking voicemails - to obtain private information had been covered up at the paper. This was after he alleged on Thursday that such illicit activities were "widespread" and "authorised at the highest level" at the Mirror Group - which has denied using voicemail interception in these cases.

And we just heard from the Mirror Group's lawyer, Andrew Green KC, who said the four claimants were "a very long way" from proving their cases, unlike evidence brought against the newspapers in 2015.

He said the group had already settled more than 600 claims and paid out more than £100m in damages and costs.

Green said the the latest claims are of a "breathtaking level of triviality" and claimants were "smearing" executives by accusing the board of lies to cover up hacking.

The trial will continue after a break for lunch.

James Gregory
Reporting from the High Court

In terms of what the Mirror Group is admitting, Green says the company is "bound by the findings" in the 2015 Gulati case (mentioned earlier here), as well as a statement it made in 2017 where it "acknowledged the findings also applied to the sports desks of the three papers".

Green says "it is pretty clear" that what the claimants will seek to argue is that every invoice from third-party suppliers - referring to invoices sent to people outside the company - is "evidence of unlawful information gathering or voicemail interception".

"We, by contrast, say this approach is unjustified.

"You have to consider the specifics for each supplier."

The court is now breaking for lunch and will be back just before 14:00 BST.

James Gregory
Reporting from the High Court

Green says allegations made against senior executives of the publisher are "extremely serious," highlighting those made against a former senior member of Mirror group's legal department, Marcus Partington.

He says the allegations made against Partington, including that he was involved with the hacking of a phone, have "no support whatsoever" and need to be made with great care.

Dominic Casciani
Legal Correspondent

Green accuses the claimants of "smearing" board members. In the earlier 2015 case, which led to the Mirror group paying out more than £1m in damages, he says the judgement clearly set out that journalists had carried out unlawful activity - but there was no findings against executives.

Green says the claimants are accusing the board of lies to cover up hacking.

“Allegations of this type, if they are made, should be made carefully and responsibly," he says. "There has been a highly-publicised smearing of the board - and particularly board members - and extreme allegations of dishonesty.

"Those allegations must be scrutinised with real care - and we say that they have been made without real care.”

James Gregory
Reporting from the High Court

Green continues by saying there is a "deep unreliability and overreach of approach taken by the claimants".

He references an article in The People headlined "Married terror cop's date with txt pal" - about a senior police officer in a secret, romantic relationship with an official at the police watchdog which was investigating his conduct.

He says there is clearly a public interest in the story, which was also reported by other media outlets at the time.

He says the date of birth searches used by journalists for the article were not indicative of unlawful information gathering.

"Everything about the article shows why the claimants' approach is troubling and unreliable," he adds.

Dominic Casciani
Legal Correspondent

Opening Mirror Group News' defence, Andrew Green KC says the four claimants seeking damages, including the Duke of Sussex, are "a very long way" from proving their cases, unlike evidence brought against the newspapers in 2015.

During that earlier case, the publisher was ordered to pay damages of £1.25m to eight claimants, including former footballer Paul Gascoigne and actor Sadie Frost. But Green says unlawful information gathering had been admitted in those cases because there was direct evidence that it happened.

"In [the earlier case] there were admissions in relation to each and direct evidence from Dan Evans [a former Mirror group journalist who has admitted hacking].

"By contrast in this case, Evans has not said he hacked any of them. The evidence in this case is slim in relation to one of the claimants and utterly non-existent for the other three claimants.

"A substantial proportion of the 100 articles are at a breath-taking level of triviality. The nature of these claims is very different to those [in the earlier case]."

In his opening statements, Andrew Green KC, representing Mirror Group Newspapers, says the group has settled more than 600 claims and paid out more than £100m in damages and costs.

Speaking about a case involving the Mirror group and former Coronation Street start Shobna Gulati, which resulted in the publisher paying her and four others compensation after admitting phone hacking in 2015, Green says the publisher "fully accepts" those findings.

He says there was no doubt that there was "reprehensible conduct of the type and scale set out in that judgement". "They make for painful reading - they did then, they do now."

James Gregory
Reporting from the High Court

The court resumes and we are now hearing from MGN's lawyer Andrew Green KC.

James Gregory
Reporting from the High Court

Sherborne has come to the end of his statement.

He asks the judge to look at the totality of the alleged offending as well as the specific cases of alleged unlawful information gathering by journalists, editors and private investigators.

There is now a short break before Andrew Green KC begins Mirror Group News' defence.