Elton John and Prince Harry are among those who have launched legal proceedings against Daily Mail publishers Associated Newspapers for what they describe as “gross breaches of privacy”. Associated Newspapers has denied the allegations.

The group also includes John’s husband – filmmaker David Furnish – along with actresses Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost, and Baroness Doreen Lawrence. Law firm Hamlins are representing Harry and Frost, with gunnercooke representing John, Furnish, Hurley and Lawrence.

In a statement shared by the BBC, Hamlins allege that those they were representing had been victims of “abhorrent criminal activity and gross breaches of privacy”. Specifically, they accused the publisher of “the hiring of private investigators to secretly place listening devices inside people’s cars and homes”, as well as “the commissioning of individuals to surreptitiously listen into and record people’s live, private telephone calls”.

Other allegations included paying police officials for “inside, sensitive information”, the “impersonation of individuals” to obtain medical information from hospitals and other clinics, and accessing bank accounts, credit histories and financial transactions “through illicit means and manipulation”.

Hamlins, in their statement, said the individuals they were representing had “banded together to uncover the truth, and to hold the journalists responsible fully accountable, many of whom still hold senior positions of authority and power today”.

Associated Newspapers, who publish the Daily Mail along with The Mail on Sunday and the Mail Online, have “utterly and unambiguously” refuted the allegations in a statement, calling them “preposterous smears” and a “pre-planned and orchestrated attempt to drag the Mail titles into the phone hacking scandal concerning articles up to 30 years old”.

The statement continued: “These unsubstantiated and highly defamatory claims – based on no credible evidence – appear to be simply a fishing expedition by claimants and their lawyers, some of whom have already pursued cases elsewhere.”