Elizabeth Hurley has accused the publisher of the Daily Mail of bugging her windowsill as well as using information obtained from tapping her landline as she gave emotional evidence at the high court.

Hurley had to stop several times to compose herself as she recounted how she had been targeted by “deeply hurtful and damaging” articles.

Her claim against Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL), which publishes the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, relates to 15 articles about her between 2002 and 2011. She is part of a group of prominent figures bringing the claims against the publisher, accusing it of using unlawful information gathering.

In a witness statement submitted to the court, the actor alleged the unlawful acts against her involved “landline tapping my phones and recording my live telephone conversations, placing surreptitious mics on my home windows, stealing my medical information when I was pregnant … and other monstrous, staggering things”.

“Above all, it was the discovery that the Mail had tapped the landlines of my home phones and tape-recorded my live telephone conversations that devastated me,” she said. “I felt crushed.”

ANL has denied any wrongdoing, previously describing the claims as “lurid” and “preposterous”. In written submissions, its legal team said the allegations brought by Hurley were “unsupported by the evidence before the court”.

It said the “baseless” claims were part of an attempt by the claimants’ research team to create a case against ANL “based entirely on spurious and, or, discredited information”.

Hurley is a member of a group of seven people bringing the claims against the publisher. The court has already heard evidence from the Duke of Sussex, who alleged it had hacked phones and blagged information about him and those close to him.

The Duke of Sussex arrives at the Royal Courts of Justice on Thursday ‘to support, and show solidarity with, the other claimants’. Photograph: Aaron Chown/PA

The other claimants are Elton John and his husband, David Furnish, the campaigner Doreen Lawrence, the former Liberal Democrat MP Simon Hughes and the actor Sadie Frost.

Hurley’s claim over the tapping of lines and bugging comes from a now “disavowed” witness statement from the private investigator Gavin Burrows. Hurley, who broke down in tears several times during her testimony, said she was “incensed” by the claims, “the details in it were very painful to read”.

Most of Hurley’s court appearance was spent being cross-examined by Antony White, the lead barrister for ANL, who suggested the information in the articles in her claim were obtained by lawful means, from sources who passed on the information.

He pointed to named friends giving quotes about her in articles, referred to her own interviews talking about issues such as relationships and pregnancy, and said Mail journalists had used information that had previously been reported elsewhere.

White put it to Hurley that people did leak information about her “openly to the press and to journalists”.

However, Hurley said the quotes from named friends were sanctioned, uncontroversial and did not amount to “leaks”. She said that their named quotes and her own in interviews were “benign” and did not give away private information.

White also said some of the articles relating to the late Steve Bing, the father of her son, Damian, could have come from Bing himself or his “camp”. Hurley said “it could have been provided by Steve Bing”, but that it was now impossible to ask him.

“There were microphones on the windowsill of my dining room,” she said. “Yes, there were leaks, but they were not from my friends.”

Asked by her own barrister, David Sherborne, about the idea of her friends giving journalists anonymous quotes about her, Hurley said the idea was “preposterous”.

“With all due respect, I don’t really want to be here,” she said. “I don’t really like talking about things that have happened to me in the past and I find it very painful.”

Prince Harry initially appeared in the court to observe proceedings. He has so far attended all four days of the trial. A spokesperson for Harry said he was there “to support, and show solidarity with, the other claimants”.

He was later reportedly seen with Lady Lawrence in the House of Lords. She is yet to give evidence in the case.

In written submissions, the publisher said stories were obtained “entirely legitimately from information variously provided by contacts of the journalists responsible, including individuals in the Duke of Sussex’s social circle, press officers and publicists, freelance journalists, photographers and prior reports”.

White said that other than the now “disavowed” witness statement from Burrows, the allegations of phone hacking and tapping were “wholly inferential”.

White spent much of his cross-examination of Hurley probing about when she first heard about the claims relating to ANL. A key part of the publisher’s case is that she and other claimants have filed their action too late.

Hurley maintained she only learned about serious allegations in relation to ANL after the October 2016 cutoff date for legal action.

The trial continues..