Elle Macpherson's adviser: Hacking cost me my job

By RAPHAEL G. SATTER

Associated Press

British actor Steve Coogan arrives to testify at the Leveson inquiry at the Royal Courts of Justice in central London, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011. The Leveson inquiry is Britain's media ethics probe that was set up in the wake of the scandal over phone hacking at Rupert Murdoch's News of the World, which was shut in July. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

LONDON (AP) — Phone hacking by the media cost me my job advising Elle Macpherson, a business adviser told a U.K. inquiry Tuesday, describing how the Australian supermodel wrongly blamed her for leaking intimate secrets to the press. Mary-Ellen Field told an inquiry into British media ethics that the leaks cast a shadow of suspicion over her, with Macpherson becoming convinced that Field was an alcoholic and ordering her to an American rehabilitation clinic. Field said she was shocked by the allegations that she was a drunk who'd been blabbing about her employer, but went along with Macpherson's recommendation because she needed her job.

"I have a severely disabled child who can never look after himself so walking away from a high-paying position is not a good idea," Field said. The rehab was grueling — she described it as being "like one of those CIA renditions, except they don't put you in chains" — but it didn't do her much good. Even though staff at the clinic said she was not an alcoholic, Macpherson fired her anyway, and Field lost her job at her firm shortly afterward. She told the inquiry there was no doubt the sacking was the result of what happened with Macpherson.

Field said her employer told her that "I'd been indiscreet, that the clients didn't trust me." Although it has since emerged that the media leaks were the result of phone hacking not indiscretion, Field said she has not heard from fellow Australian Macpherson in years.

Field was one of several victims of press intrusion testifying Tuesday at Britain's Royal Courts of Justice. The inquiry was set up after the scandal over phone hacking and other underhanded tactics used at the News of the World, which was closed in July amid allegations of widespread criminality.

Among those due to testify Tuesday were British comedian Steve Coogan, soccer player Garry Flitcroft, and Margaret Watson, whose daughter Diane was stabbed to death at her Scottish school two decades ago.

The parents of murdered British schoolgirl Milly Dowler and film star Hugh Grant were the first victims to testify on Monday, with Grant being particularly scathing.

He described mysterious break-ins, leaked medical details and hacked voice mails. Grant attacked the Mail on Sunday tabloid, accusing it of spying on his conversations. The paper denies the charge, but lawyers at the inquiry said Tuesday the tabloid's response smacked of an attempt to intimidate witnesses.

David Sherborne and Neil Garnham pointed to an article on the Mail's website describing Grant's allegations as "mendacious smears driven by his hatred of the media."

"(Is) everyone who has the temerity to give evidence critical of the press is going to face this the following morning?" Garnham asked.

Sherborne also invoked the Mail article when he said many witnesses were worried about "the sort of intimidatory tactics that we've seen in the press this morning."

The Mail's lead counsel was not at the hearing but was expected to reply later Tuesday.