Mr Seymour briefly appeared in court earlier this afternoon to give evidence about his experiences of alleged phone hacking while he worked at the Mirror - these do not relate to stories about Mr Turner.

In court, Mr Seymour was asked about former Mirror editor Piers Morgan and a story about Princess Diana, which he gives detail about in his witness statement, saying: "I was at the Daily Mirror for the entire duration of Mr Morgan's editorship and came to learn of some of the dubious methods being used to get stories in the Mirror."

Mr Seymour says the "truth never emerged" about how a story published in January 1996, featuring a front-page photograph of Princess Diana crying, was obtained.

Diana was crying after visiting her "saviour" friend and therapist, the article said, and more pictures were featured inside the newspaper. The story said the princess was "troubled by the decisions she has to make over her divorce", Mr Seymour's statement says.

He continues: "The article clearly suggests to readers, and the public, that Princess Diana was upset because of the problems she faced in her life, and having unburdened herself to her therapist."

However, Mr Seymour says he remembers seeing Mr Morgan and others watching a video which had been taken by a paparazzi photographer present at the time, and says it was played several times, a few days after the picture and story appeared.

 The video showed Diana was not upset as she left the building, but became distressed after being "hounded up and down the street by a baying, cat-calling mob" of photographers.

"The video revealed to those of us watching that the Daily Mirror's front page and inside spread was quite wrong, in clearly suggesting that Diana was distraught when she left her therapist," Mr Seymour says in his statement. "But rather, it was the hounding by photographers that had caused her to break down in tears."

Mr Seymour says he was "upset and ashamed that we had printed something so cruel, intrusive and false".

He says Mr Morgan understood the significance of the video, writing in his statement that the then editor said: "If this gets out, we're finished."

Mr Seymour has told the court he never hacked phones or had knowledge of political journalists doing so.

Sky News