Paparazzi perpetually hounding Pippa

The picture editor of Britain's Daily Mail newspaper says he sees up to 400 photographs of the Duchess of Cambridge's sister, Pippa Middleton, cross his desk every day.

Paul Silva says the younger sister of the former Kate Middleton typically has eight or nine photographers outside her door and estimated they produce "300 to 400 pictures" of her daily.

Silva was answering questions at the Leveson Inquiry, a judge-led investigation into the ethics of the country's media.

The inquiry was set up in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal centred on Rupert Murdoch's News of the World and has heard from celebrities who say they were hounded by paparazzi.

The hearing was told the Daily Mail has had a policy of not photographing Pippa Middleton when she's "out and about" on her own business "since after the Royal wedding".

The Mail on Sunday continued to pay for the potentially illegal services of a private investigator after he was arrested and charged with illegally trading in people's personal information.

Editor Peter Wright admitted to the inquiry that the paper had continued to commission searches by Steve Whittamore long after the police investigation resulted in his arrest in March 2003.

He said "a substantial sum [of] money" had been paid to Whittamore during the years he worked for the Mail titles. He estimated the total payment to be around £20,000.

But after Whittamore was charged, the paper had used him only rarely and only when it was sure he would be acting legitimately.

- Independent, AP