A Coronation Street star said she felt like she was “public property” after her phone was allegedly hacked by the Mirror Group.

Former Coronation Street actress Nikki Sanderson, from Bury, said she also experienced abuse in the street following “false insinuations” in articles published by Mirror Group Newspapers, the High Court was told.

Ms Sanderson’s legal team said in court documents that she experienced “unusual telephone and media-related activity” which was consistent with the “unauthorised accessing of her voicemails and other unlawful information gathering”, with private information appearing in newspapers with “no legitimate explanation” as to how it was obtained.

Mr Sherborne said she said it was “‘scary’ feeling like she was always being watched, and ‘upsetting’ that MGN’s conduct caused the lines between her public and private life to blur, making her believe that she was ‘public property’.”

Mr Sherborne said: “The impact of the stories on Nikki Sanderson was aggravated by their false insinuations that she was promiscuous, causing her great upset and giving rise to her being subjected to mental and physical abuse, having people shout at her in the street calling her a ‘whore’, ‘slag’ or ‘slut’ and even being physically assaulted on numerous occasions.

“It gave rise to her feeling in a constant state of paranoia, distrusting everyone around her.”

He added that payment records to private investigators show Ms Sanderson was “subjected to very large amounts of unlawful information gathering”.

This made her feel “angry and distressed”, with the actress claiming: “I was a young girl and they were hiring random men to follow me – they could have done anything to me.”

In its trial defence, the publisher says Ms Sanderson’s claim is brought too late, but “unreservedly apologises” over four payments made to private investigators which it admits are evidence of instructions to unlawfully obtain her private information.

The publisher also claims that evidence does not suggest Ms Sanderson’s phone was successfully hacked.

The alleged hacking led her co-star Michael Turner to be accused by his fellow cast members of being “a mole”.

The actor, who has appeared in the role of Kevin Webster in the Manchester-based soap since 1983, is among a number of individuals describing the “upsetting”, “damaging” and “long-lasting” impact of allegedly being targeted by unlawful information gathering activities.

Fiona Wightman, the ex-wife of TV comedian Paul Whitehouse, received an apology from the publisher over the unlawful gathering of her medical information while she was undergoing treatment for ovarian cancer, court documents revealed.

MGN, publisher of The Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People, is contesting damages claims brought by the trio, as well as the Duke of Sussex, over alleged unlawful information gathering at its titles.

Their “representative” claims are being considered by a judge during a seven-week trial which began on Wednesday.