LEAD: Hugh Grant takes centre stage at Britain's hacking inquiry

By Anna Tomforde Nov 21, 2011, 17:42 GMT

London - British film actor Hugh Grant Monday hit out at the 'toxic' methods deployed by the tabloid media, whom he accused of hacking into his voicemails, hounding his girlfriends and possibly even instigating a break-in into his flat.

Grant, who has starred in films including Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, About A Boy and Love Actually, said it had become 'fashionable to hate' him in Britain.

'I've become extremely used to that. It has been extremely fashionable for a long time,' he said, alleging that the media were out to do a 'hatchet job' on people in the public eye because 'the truth does not sell papers.'

The actor, who has become a leading campaigner for victims of Britain's recent phone hacking scandal said the clandestine methods used had spread well beyond tabloids owned by Rupert Murdoch, and were also employed by rival papers the Daily Mail, the Mail on Sunday and The Mirror.

Grant, 51, who became the father of a baby girl in September, accused the media of making 'life hell' for Chinese actress Tinglan Hong, the mother of his baby daughter born at the end of September.

'I have a baby with her, she is a good friend and she remains a friend. It is a nice story. But nice stories don't sell newspapers, they always want to put an ugly spin on it,' said Grant.

'Actually, I had a hard time, and I just said the truth but that does not seem very popular,' Grant told a British judicial inquiry into the phone hacking scandal during hours of questioning.

In a polished and lively performance, the heart-throb actor also revealed details of what he described as the 'toxic' methods of media intrusion experienced in his earlier relationships with actress Liz Hurley and socialite Jemimah Khan, the ex-wife of former Pakistan cricket captain Imran Khan.

He described how Khan and her two sons were 'chased and abused' by paparazzi photographers, who were increasingly recruited from the 'criminal classes.'

Grant also alleged that there was a link between a burglary into his flat in London just days after he was found having sex with a prostitute in a car in Los Angeles in 1995.

Nothing was stolen, but soon afterwards a 'detailed account' of the interior of his home was published in a British newspaper, said Grant, implying collusion between the media and the police.

Generally, his experience was that if he called the police, a press photographer would knock on his door first, said Grant.

The actor's testimony will be followed later this week by the appearance of other figures in the public limelight, including Harry Potter author JK Rowling, and Kate and Gerry McCann, whose missing daughter, Madeleine, has made headlines frequently.

Earlier Monday, the parents of Milly Dowler, the British teenager whose abduction and murder in 2002 became the heart of the hacking scandal, gave evidence to the inquiry.

They told how their false hope that the 13-year-old could still be alive was fed by the deletion of voicemail messages from her phone by a private detective employed by a tabloid newspaper.

Sally and Bob Dowler described how they tried for days to access Milly's mobile phone, and the relief they felt when they finally were able to leave a leave a new voicemail.

'She's picking up her voicemail, she's alive,' said Milly's mother, repeating the words she used to describe her feelings in 2002.

But the reason why she got through to the mailbox was that Glen Mulcaire, a private detective employed by the News of the World newspaper, had allegedly cleared messages in order to facilitate his own investigations by freeing up more space so police searching for the girl could leave more messages.

The phone hacking scandal surrounding the News of the World has shaken the media empire of Australian magnate Rupert Murdoch, who closed down the best-selling Sunday tabloid in response to the scandal in July.

A judicial inquiry, led by Judge Brian Leveson, started work a week ago.

Parallel criminal investigations have shown that the News of the World accessed the mobile phones of up to 6,000 people, including celebrities, politicians, soldiers and victims of crime between 2002 and 2009.