Dacre previously defended the actions of Associated Newspapers at the Leveson Inquiry into press standards 14 years ago. There, he answered questions about the paper’s use of private investigators to obtain information.
On Tuesday Dacre was back in court, facing similar questions from the same barrister, David Sherborne, who is representing the seven claimants.
Dacre told the trial that he “wasn’t aware” of the extent of the paper’s use of private investigators – who he referred to as “inquiry agents” – until around 2007 when he “brought the shutters down”.
Sherborne asked Dacre whether his involvement in the case “is motivated by a desire to protect your legacy” rather than getting a fair outcome. Dacre admitted wanting to clear his name, but also said he cared about the “honest and dedicated” staff at the paper.
Regarding allegations that hacking and tapping phones was “habitual and widespread” at the Daily Mail, Dacre said: “I utterly reject this. Such blatant illegality would not, I believe, have been countenanced at any level on the paper I edited.”
He added that he is sure if he was told there was evidence a journalist or agent had blagged information, he would “have been pretty furious”.
The “sometimes preposterous allegations” have “in the small hours of the night – reduced me to rage” he wrote in his witness statement, adding that they have had a “deeply upsetting and, in some instances, traumatic impact” on past and present Daily Mail staff.
Another of the claimants, Baroness Lawrence, is the mother of the murdered black schoolboy Stephen Lawrence. When Stephen was murdered, the Daily Mail campaigned on her behalf.
In her claim, Lawrence alleges that ANL targeted her with hidden electronic surveillance, tapped her phone and monitored her bank account.
She previously told the court that she felt like “a victim all over again” after she learned of the allegations.
Dacre told the court on Tuesday that “my heart bleeds for Doreen Lawrence”
In his statement he added Lawrence’s claims in relation to the campaign “are especially bewildering and bitterly wounding to me personally.”
At times, the atmosphere between Sherborne and Dacre was combative.
At one stage, Sherborne suggested “you choose to remember the things that might be helpful, and deliberately forget the things that might be unhelpful”.
