Prince Harry court case – latest: Coronation Street star claims hair ‘set on fire’ after ‘nasty girl’ narrative

Nikki Sanderson said her hair was set on fire by a group of girls after Mirror articles painted her as a “stuck up, nasty, party girl”.

She said in her witness statement: “People would elbow me, push me and, on one occasion, a group of girls even set my hair on fire. This particular incident happened in the toilets of a club and the group of girls had been bothering me all night.

“I had gone to the toilets on my own and I was washing my hands and I smelt burning. I looked down and they had set fire to the back of my hair. Fortunately, I wasn’t wearing any hair product, otherwise, my hair would have gone up in flames.

“ I can recall another occasion in a bowling alley toilet where a group of girls were threatening me with all sorts of horrible things. I barricaded myself in the toilet to escape them and luckily one of my friends came in and got me out of there, but I remember being so upset. This kind of thing was constant.

“My friends were very protective over me and they really stuck up for me but I had anxiety about this type of thing.”

Sanderson said that she had often been told by people that she was “completely different to how they thought I would be.”

She added: “It’s because of this narrative created and repeated by MGN that I was stuck up, nasty, rude, promiscuous, and a party girl. It feels like character assassination.”

We’re pausing our live coverage of the phone hacking trial but come back Monday when we will pick it up again.

Andrew Green KC pointed out similar articles and photographs about Nikki Sanderson appeared in other magazines and newspapers.

He suggested an OK magazine spread about her holiday in St Lucia in 2005 was more intrusive than the People story she has complained about.

“Did you sue OK?”, Mr Green asked. Sanderson said she did not know.

The actress said she did not believe she had agreed to an interview and photos for OK, or that the magazine had paid for the holiday.

“I don’t feel like it is an interview, I feel like it’s segments of other interviews put in with descriptions of photographs.”

Mr Green said: “If you are right this wasn’t a voluntarily given interview and photographs, this is more intrusive than any article we have seen that you have complained about.”

He suggested that the People article did not contain any new details and claimed it could therefore not cause Sanderson any distress.

Fellow Coronation Street actress Tina O’Brien settled her own MGN claim in 2016.

She said the press intrusion had a lasting impact on Nikki Sanderson, who joined the soap at around the same time and became a close friend.

O’Brien said: “She was very paranoid and felt like it was someone that she knew who was telling the papers things. She became very wary about who she wanted to talk to; maybe even to the point that she looked at me with suspicion, that is how insidious it was.

“The result of all these doubts and suspicions was that Nikki was sometimes very lonely and she always had this low-level anxiety as she didn’t know what was coming next. I remember feeling the same.

“It kind of feels like a toxic relationship; that we deserved that treatment from the media as we had gone into this job.”

Nikki Sanderson’s mother described how her daughter “lost some of her sparkle” and became very suspicious as a result of the newspaper stories.

Judith Sanderson said in a witness statement - that is not challenged by MGN - that people were horrible to Nikki “because of how she was presented in the press.”

She said: “Nikki very quickly went from being this lovely, carefree, happy girl with her friends who she loved dearly into somebody who was very suspicious.

“She was always careful not to speak openly in public when she did not know who was around her, in case there was someone who could use that information to sell a story on her. She was worried about going out because she said that people would physically and verbally attack her.

“When you don’t know a famous person, you judge them by what you read about them, and MGN wrote such horrible things about Nikki and she was not able to defend herself.

“In the end, Nikki was very depressed. She lost confidence and became very unsure of herself. She was paranoid as she felt like she had to watch out all the time, and she dreaded going out because of the reaction she got from the public. She lost some of her sparkle which, as her mum, was very painful to see.”

Andrew Green KC, for Mirror Group Newspapers, suggested the newspaper could have been tipped off by members of the public.

“There was no need for voicemail interception because of the number of people who could have tipped them off about your whereabouts.”

Mr Green asked why Sanderson had not complained at the time, and why she had not complained about similar stories in the Daily Star.

Sanderson replied: “I wouldn’t have known anything happened to me illegally. I wouldn’t have known at that point how they found me.”

She said it was different to taking part in interviews and photoshoots because it was like “having control taken away from you and published without your commission.” She added: “It’s a safety risk as well.”

Mr Green said: “The reality is you were famous and you were bound to be recognised out and about.”

He described one of the stories about her going out as “trivial” and suggested they were not distressing.

Nikki Sanderson told the court that a Mirror story about her “love rat” father was “horrifically traumatising”.

Asked how she felt at the time, she told the court: “It was extremely hurtful. It’s humiliating.

“I just remember it was horrifically traumatising at the time. I just remember crying a lot.”

Sanderson said she believed voicemail interception was used for the story.

She also told how Mirror stories about her shopping trips, going out at night and holidaying in Greece were “extremely upsetting and distressing.”

She said: “To know all that time I was being followed… I was a young woman, it’s very frightening to know there were people following me.”

Actress Nikki Sanderson only became aware she had a potential claim against the publisher of the Mirror for alleged unlawful information gathering after chatting with Hollyoaks co-star Gary Lucy, the High Court has heard.

Former Coronation Street star Ms Sanderson, 39, is suing Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) for damages, claiming journalists at its titles – which also include the Sunday Mirror and Sunday People – were linked to methods including phone hacking, so-called “blagging” or gaining information by deception, and use of private investigators for unlawful activities.

Her case is one of four representative claims being heard in London, alongside similar claims brought by the Duke of Sussex, Coronation Street actor Michael Turner, known professionally as Michael Le Vell, and comedian Paul Whitehouse’s ex-wife Fiona Wightman.

A host of articles about the Duke of Sussex’s life are at the centre of his legal battle with the publisher of the Mirror.

Harry alleges 147 stories from 1996 to 2010, published by Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) titles, used information obtained through unlawful means, such as phone hacking.

The articles cover the duke’s relationship with his family and ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy, a few injuries and illnesses, his military service and allegations of drug use.

Some 33 articles, dated between 1996 and 2009, were selected for examination during the trial of Harry’s contested claim against MGN.

MGN has told the trial in London that it denies that 28 out of the 33 articles involved unlawful information gathering and that it was not admitted for the remaining five articles.

The publisher claims the stories came from a range of sources, including information disclosed by royal households or other royals, freelance journalists and news agencies as well as confidential sources with “extensive” royal contacts.

Nikki Sanderson claimed the Mirror stories created a narrative that she was a “nasty, promiscuous party girl” and led to a backlash from the public.

She described how people would shout abuse at her in the street, push and kick her, and on one occasion set her hair on fire in the toilets of a club.

“When MGN published stories about me insinuating that I was promiscuous it was very distressing. Social media didn’t exist at the time so I had no way of putting my side out there, and so the public’s perception of me was based on these stories which used such unlawful methods to put out a certain narrative about me.

“ Being made out to be bed-hopping and sleeping with three people in one week, as The Mirror suggested in articles, was so upsetting as it was so far removed from the truth.

“The backlash from the public was also very difficult and I was subjected to both mental and physical abuse. People would shout at me in the street, calling me a whore, a slag or a slut.”