Heather Mills denies Piers Morgan voicemail claim at Leveson inquiry

Ms Mills told the Leveson Inquiry into press standards and ethics that she had neither played Mr Morgan, now a TV host in the US, the message nor authorised anyone else to access it.

Mr Morgan appeared at the Leveson Inquiry via videolink in December when he admitted hearing the message but refused to disclose who played it to him.

At the inquiry on Thursday Ms Mills said: 'I couldn't quite believe that he would even try to insinuate, a man that has written nothing but awful things about me for years, would relish in telling the court if I had played a voicemail message to him.'

She told the inquiry in early 2001 she and Sir Paul had argued about a trip she was planning to Gujurat and while she stayed with friends in Middlesex he left a series of messages on her voicemail, including a 'little ditty of one of his songs'.

Ms Mills said she did not record any of the messages and deleted them straight away.

But later she received a phonecall from a Trinity Mirror employee - who the inquiry heard was neither a Daily Mirror journalist nor working for Mr Morgan - who said they had heard the messages.

Heather Mills said she 'never, ever' authorised anyone to listen to her voicemails (Picture: Reuters)

'I said, "there's no way that you could know that unless you have been listening to my messages". And he laughed,' Ms Mills said.

The story was never published after Ms Mills threatened to take action.

The voicemails only came to light after Mr Morgan mentioned listening to them in an article in the Daily Mail in 2006.

At the inquiry last December he said he was 'not going to discuss where I heard it or who played it to me'.

'I don't think it's right,' Mr Morgan said. 'In fact the inquiry has already stated to me you don't expect me to identify sources.'

At the time Lord Justice Leveson clarified that only Ms Mills would be lawfully allowed to listen to the message, or somebody authorised on her behalf.

Ms Mills also showed an abridged version of what she said was 64 hours of home video footage of harassment by paparazzi photographers.

At one point in the video the inquiry saw a photographer looking through a fence outside Ms Mills home suggesting that 'someone should just bring a hand-drill down and put a hole through'.