London ( CNN ) -- Hugh Grant took aim at the British press Monday , calling the hacking of a murdered schoolgirl 's voice mail `` cowardly and shocking . '' The British actor also accused newspapers of using criminals as paparazzi and the Mail on Sunday of hacking into his voice mail . The `` Four Weddings and a Funeral '' star was testifying before a government-backed inquiry into press ethics sparked by public outrage at Rupert Murdoch 's News of the World newspaper . The best-selling Sunday tabloid was shut down in July after the revelation that it had hacked into the voice mail of the murdered schoolgirl , Milly Dowler . Dowler 's mother , Sally , explained earlier Monday how the hacking had given her false hope that her missing daughter was still alive . She described her joy at finding voice mails had been deleted from her missing daughter 's phone : `` She 's checked her voice mail , Bob ! She 's alive ! '' In fact , the messages had been deleted by a private investigator working for News of the World , Dowler 's father , Bob , told the inquiry panel . Sally Dowler 's face fell as she recalled finding out it was the hacker , not her daughter , who had been checking the voice mail . Grant said he thought he had also been a victim of phone hacking . He said he could not think of any other source for a Mail on Sunday story about his relationship with his then-girlfriend Jemima Khan being on the rocks because of his phone flirtation with a `` plummy-voiced Englishwoman . '' That story was later found false and libelous in court . Grant 's accusation widens the scope of the British newspaper phone-hacking scandal , which has focused mostly on Murdoch-owned titles so far . The Mail on Sunday is not a Murdoch newspaper . Grant also implied that the police were leaking stories about celebrities to the press , saying that when he called the police about his girlfriend being mugged , paparazzi showed up before the police . Police investigating phone hacking by journalists say that about 5,800 people , including celebrities , crime victims , politicians and members of the royal family , were targets of phone hacking by journalists in search of stories . The practice involves illegally eavesdropping on voice mail by entering a PIN to access messages remotely . Most attention has focused on the now-defunct News of the World , once the flagship Sunday tabloid of Murdoch 's News International British publishing company . Murdoch and his son James have been called to testify before parliament over the scandal , and their company agreed last month to pay 2 million pounds ( $ 3.1 million ) in compensation to the Dowler family . Rupert Murdoch personally donated 1 million pounds ( $ 1.57 million ) to charity as part of the deal , his company and the Dowlers announced last month . More than two dozen News International employees used the services of a convicted phone hacker , the inquiry panel heard last week . `` This fact alone suggests wide-ranging , illegal activity within the organization at the relevant time , '' Robert Jay , one of the lawyers serving as part of the Leveson Inquiry , said as the panel began hearing testimony . James Murdoch has always insisted that the practice of phone hacking was not widespread . But Jay said November 14 that private investigator Glenn Mulcaire 's notebooks contained the names of at least 28 people who employed him on 2,266 occasions . Four individuals -- whom Jay did not name -- were responsible for almost all the Mulcaire commissions , Jay said . But the sheer number of names in Mulcaire 's files means the one News of the World journalist jailed over phone hacking , Clive Goodman , `` was not a rogue reporter , '' Jay said . Mulcaire and Goodman went to prison in 2007 after admitting hacking into royal family staff messages . CNN 's Atika Shubert contributed to this report .
Notes : Grant calls the hacking of a murdered woman 's phone ` ` cowardly and shocking '' Milly Dowler 's mother describes how phone hacking gave her false hope . Police investigated Milly Dowler 's phone before her body was found . Police say up to 5,800 people were accused of phone hacking .