Doreen Lawrence: I was betrayed by the Daily Mail

Paper allegedly hired investigators to hack Labour peer's phone Cases also brought by Prince Harry, Elton John, Sadie Frost and others

- Jim Waterson

Doreen Lawrence has claimed that the Daily Mail hired private investigators to hack her phone and obtain information on her murdered son Stephen, potentially disrupting the police investigation into the racially motivated killing.

Lady Lawrence now believes she "failed her murdered son" by trusting the Daily Mail during the 1990s, claiming the news outlet campaigned for justice on behalf of Stephen Lawrence in a cynical bid to sell more newspapers.

The allegations were set out in detailed documents released during an extraordinary hearing at the high court.

Lawrence, Prince Harry, Elton John and the actor Sadie Frost all turned up to hear legal arguments in the cases they have brought against Associated Newspapers, the owner of the Daily Mail, the Mail on Sunday and MailOnline.

Along with Liz Hurley, and the former Liberal Democrat politician Sir Simon Hughes, they accuse the titles of making widespread use of illegal reporting tactics to obtain stories over more than 20 years. At the preliminary hearing in central London yesterday, lawyers for Associated Newspapers attempted to stop the claims going to trial, where the allegations would be heard in full.

The Daily Mail had largely escaped the phone-hacking allegations that led to the closure of the News of the World but now faces a major challenge that could result in serious reputational damage. The allegations relate to a period when the Daily Mail was edited by Paul Dacre, who remains a senior executive at Associated Newspapers and has been nominated for a peerage in Boris Johnson's resignation honours.

The Mail has dismissed all the claims as "preposterous smears" and is trying to stop the case going to trial on multiple grounds.