The editor of the Daily Mail was one of the people responsible for a statement accusing a celebrity of "mendacious smears" against the paper, heard the Leveson Inquiry.Paul Dacre, who is on holiday this month and giving evidence to the inquiry on February 6, was one of several members of Associated News staff who compiled the statement in November 2011, according to Associated News head of legal Liz Hartley.The statement rebutted allegations made by Grant that the Mail on Sunday hacked his phone and stated: "Mr Grant's allegations are mendacious smears driven by his hatred of the media". Grant's barrister David Sherborne accused the paper of issuing "a personal attack" on the actor, after it was published in the Daily Mail.The Mail on Sunday printed an article in 2007, alleging the breakdown of Grant's relationship with Jemima Khan, claiming that phone calls to a "plummy-voiced woman" were to blame. According the the paper, the story came from "a freelance journalist who had been told by a source who was regularly speaking to Jemima Khan."Grant told the inquiry: "I cannot for the life of me think of any conceivable source for the story in the Mail on Sunday except those voice messages on my mobile phone."Associated News also countered claims that details regarding the birth of Grant's daughter had been obtained from a hospital source. "In fact the information came from a source in his showbusiness circle," said a separate statement, which added: "We did not publish anything until Grant’s publicist issued a statement describing the baby as the product of a 'fleeting affair'."