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Hugh Grant wins damages from Mirror in phone-hacking case Mirror Group admits bosses 'turned blind eye' to phone hacking
(about 4 hours later)
Lawyer says actor donated what is believed to be six-figure sum to campaign group Hacked Off MGN discloses cover-up of three papers’ ‘disgraceful actions’ as it settles Hugh Grant privacy case
Damien Gayle and agencies Damien Gayle and
Kevin Rawlinson
Mon 5 Feb 2018 11.36 GMTMon 5 Feb 2018 11.36 GMT
Last modified on Mon 5 Feb 2018 14.07 GMT Last modified on Mon 5 Feb 2018 18.24 GMT
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The publisher of the Daily Mirror has paid Hugh Grant what is understood to be a six-figure sum in damages to settle his claim against it for phone hacking. The publisher of the Daily Mirror has admitted its senior editors and executives “actively turned a blind eye” to phone hacking for years as it agreed to pay hefty damages to Hugh Grant to settle his high court claim on Monday.
The actor was at the high court in London to hear his lawyer give details of the settlement at a hearing before Mr Justice Mann. Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) acknowledged that people working at its newspapers were involved in a widespread campaign of “unlawful information-gathering”; a campaign they then tried to cover up.
Speaking outside court after the hearing, Grant said: “This case was not just about what they did to my phone and those close to me … This litigation has made clear that phone hacking and other unlawful information-gathering took place on an industrial scale at the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People. The firm accepted that “senior employees, including executives, editors and journalists, condoned, encouraged or actively turned a blind eye to the widespread culture of unlawful information-gathering activities at all three of its newspapers for many years and actively sought to conceal its wrongdoing from its many victims of intrusion”, Grant’s solicitor, Anjlee Saigol, told Mr Justice Mann at the high court .
Reading a statement agreed by Grant and the publisher, Saigol added that MGN had acknowledged its “repeated and prolonged intrusions into innocent people’s lives over, in some instances, a decade, could have been prevented or interrupted”.
Instead, the statement said, the parent company Trinity Mirror “failed to properly investigate these disgraceful actions” when allegations first emerged in 2006.
The admission goes yet further than the fulsome concessions made by MGN when it settled a similar case brought by the actor and comedian, Steve Coogan, last October. At that point, the firm acknowledged Coogan had been the “target of unlawful activities and that these activities were concealed until years later”.
For his part, Coogan said editors and executives, among them Piers Morgan, had not yet been “subjected to proper scrutiny” and called for the second part of the Leveson inquiry into the British press to take place.
Speaking outside of court on Monday, Grant echoed that call, saying: “This case was not just about what they did to my phone and those close to me … This litigation has made clear that phone hacking and other unlawful information-gathering took place on an industrial scale at the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People.
“This newspaper group has misled the public and its shareholders for many years, and it has let down its readers and its hard-working journalists. The public were not told the truth, the victims were not told the truth, the shareholders were not told the truth and the Leveson inquiry was not told the truth. That is why the second part of the Leveson inquiry must take place – to get to the truth and discover who broke the law and who lied about it.”“This newspaper group has misled the public and its shareholders for many years, and it has let down its readers and its hard-working journalists. The public were not told the truth, the victims were not told the truth, the shareholders were not told the truth and the Leveson inquiry was not told the truth. That is why the second part of the Leveson inquiry must take place – to get to the truth and discover who broke the law and who lied about it.”
Anjlee Saigol, of Taylor Hampton Solicitors, who represented Grant, told the judge: “Mr Grant brought this action in relation to alleged illegal misuses of his private information, obtained by hacking into his voicemails, as well as blagging and surveillance, committed by MGN’s journalists at all three of its newspapers over, as MGN now accepts, many years. Saigol, of Taylor Hampton solicitors, told the judge: “Mr Grant brought this action in relation to alleged illegal misuses of his private information, obtained by hacking into his voicemails, as well as blagging and surveillance, committed by MGN’s journalists at all three of its newspapers over, as MGN now accepts, many years.
“Although Mr Grant now has some clarity as to the extent of MGN’s unlawful activities in relation to him, one of his principal reasons for pursuing this case was to uncover and establish the wider truth about MGN’s investigations into and knowledge of its unlawful activities before it finally admitted these practices in September 2014.”“Although Mr Grant now has some clarity as to the extent of MGN’s unlawful activities in relation to him, one of his principal reasons for pursuing this case was to uncover and establish the wider truth about MGN’s investigations into and knowledge of its unlawful activities before it finally admitted these practices in September 2014.”
A statement agreed by both parties, read out by Saigol in court, outlined that Mirror Group Newspapers admitted its senior journalists had “encouraged or actively turned a blind eye to the widespread culture of unlawful information gathering activities” at its newspapers.
“MGN admits that its repeated and prolonged intrusions into innocent people’s lives over, in some instances, a decade, could have been prevented or interrupted,” she added.
Alex Wilson, for Mirror Group Newspapers, said: “MGN accepts that the unlawful interception of voicemail messages and procurement of private information about the claimant and others should never have happened. MGN acknowledges that was morally wrong and deeply regrets the wrongful acts of its former employees which caused damage and distress to those affected.”Alex Wilson, for Mirror Group Newspapers, said: “MGN accepts that the unlawful interception of voicemail messages and procurement of private information about the claimant and others should never have happened. MGN acknowledges that was morally wrong and deeply regrets the wrongful acts of its former employees which caused damage and distress to those affected.”
Saigol said Grant had donated the money he had received to Hacked Off, the campaign group that has fought tabloid newspapers over their use of phone hacking. Saigol told the court Grant had been “frustrated certain editors and executives gave evidence denying knowledge of phone hacking at MGN’s titles and suggesting that they had seen no evidence to show it had taken place”. She said he had “found the evidence given to the [Leveson] inquiry on behalf of Trinity Mirror difficult to believe”.
The publisher paid “substantial damages”, believed to be a six-figure sum. Saigol said her client donated the money to Hacked Off, the campaign group that has fought tabloid newspapers over their use of phone hacking.
The judge also heard details of settlements against Mirror Group Newspapers by the actor Ralf Little and Rupert Lowe, who was the executive chairman and joint managing director of Southampton football club between 1999 and 2006. Both men received undisclosed damages payouts and apologies from MGN.The judge also heard details of settlements against Mirror Group Newspapers by the actor Ralf Little and Rupert Lowe, who was the executive chairman and joint managing director of Southampton football club between 1999 and 2006. Both men received undisclosed damages payouts and apologies from MGN.
Phone hackingPhone hacking
National newspapersNational newspapers
NewspapersNewspapers
Daily MirrorDaily Mirror
Hugh GrantHugh Grant
Newspapers & magazinesNewspapers & magazines
newsnews
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