Hugh Grant has slammed paparazzi who chase him and his loved ones, claiming it is a "relatively common occurrence".

The actor is currently giving evidence at the Leveson Inquiry in London, which is looking into allegations of phone hacking against several UK newspapers.

Hugh has repeatedly insisted his voicemails were intercepted by members of the press who used them to write stories about him.

He has also discussed the lengths that photographers go to in order to take pictures of him and his friends and family. Hugh explained things have been particularly bad with two of his girlfriends. He didn't name them, but it is believed he was referring to Elizabeth Hurley and Jemima Khan.

"Being chased by paparazzi was a relatively common occurrence with two of the girlfriends I've had. They both have children. In both cases actually that's not quite fair, the first girlfriend when she was with me we didn't have children, that doesn't apply, the first girlfriend has subsequently had children and been very badly chased and abused," he said. "The second girlfriend she did have children and she was frequently, especially in the early days of our romance, followed and chased, even when she had her children in the car. Even when the children were not enjoying it, crying, they'd ask the paparazzi Please go away, there's children in the car and they're frightened.' and the paparazzi would continue to take pictures."

Hugh recently became a father for the first time.

He has a daughter with Chinese actress Tinglan Hong, and he says she's also been treated badly by photographers.

"There are two kinds of press photographers, the ones who are on staff for papers occasionally show a modicum of decency although they didn't recently with my baby, they staked out a new mother for three days, she couldn't really leave her home," he said.

In 1995, Hugh was arrested for misdemeanour lewd conduct after being found with a prostitute in Los Angeles. At the time he was dating Elizabeth and it garnered a lot of press attention.

The actor insists he had no problem with such reports.

"All the questioning and campaigning I've done recently about what I see abuses of some section of British press is not motivated by the treatment I got when I was arrested in 2005," he said. "I totally expected there to be a press storm."

The actor has made a number of other allegations.

He explained his London apartment was broken into shortly after his 1995 arrest, and a description of the home subsequently appeared in a newspaper.

"The front door had been shoved off its hinges. Nothing had been stolen, which was weird...," he recalled. "Shortly after that a detailed account of what the interior of my flat looked like appeared in one of the papers.

"I remember thinking who told them that - was that the burglar, or was that the police?"

The 51-year-old has also alleged his medical records were accessed by journalists, who later printed details of a hospital appointment he made.

While giving evidence Hugh was repeatedly requested only to give evidence, and not to share opinion or speculation.