The publisher of the Mirror will pay model Paul Sculfor “substantial damages” over allegations of phone hacking while he was dating actresses Jennifer Aniston and Cameron Diaz.
Sculfor’s claim related to nine articles containing his private information published by Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and The People owner Mirror Group Newspapers between 2007 and 2009.
It said the information could only have been obtained through unlawful information gathering, including as a result of intercepting voicemail messages relating to his relationships with Aniston and Diaz.
Sculfor’s claim was the only one of five test cases against MGN allowed to continue following a preliminary trial this year.
Other claimants were deemed to have brought their cases too late because they could have known earlier and were now outside the six-year time limit under the Limitation Act 1980.
However High Court judge Mr Justice Fancourt said Sculfor was misled into believing his family and friends were to blame for the articles.
The judge found he had been “partly but causally misled by MGN’s publications: he blamed his father and close friends, and moved on.
“He was therefore not required to be particularly attentive to the developing phone hacking story, and he did not in fact hear much about it. This was in part because he was living abroad until 2013.”
Sculfor had “no connection or conversation with anyone who believed that they had been hacked or who brought a claim” until April 2020, the judge continued.
Call data and private investigator invoices identifying Sculfor as the target of hacking were used to support his claim.
The case was settled with MGN agreeing to pay substantial damages, Sculfor’s legal costs, write a private letter of apology and and issue a public apology in court on Friday.
Mirror publisher acknowledges Paul Sculfor information ‘should not have been obtained in the manner it was’
Alex Pollock of RPC, solicitor for MGN, told the High Court MGN offered “its sincere apologies to Mr Sculfor for the distress caused to him by the misuse of his private information over 15 years ago.
“The defendant acknowledges that Mr Sculfor’s private information should not have been obtained and used in the manner it was.”
An MGN spokesperson added: “We welcomed the judgment in 2023 as well as the judgment this spring, which have both given the business the clarity to move forward from events that took place many years ago.”
The 2023 judgment following a trial featuring Prince Harry found that the publisher’s journalists used 11 private investigators and their associates “very substantially… in connection with extensive and habitual unlawful information gathering and phone hacking activities”.
The MGN spokesperson added: “This settlement has no impact on our financial provision which remains unchanged.”
Mirror parent company Reach said in its half-year results earlier this week that its provision for dealing with historical hacking claims stood at £4.1m. Most of this was expected to be used over the next year and the publisher said it “represents the current best estimate of the amount required to resolve this matter”.
Paul Sculfor says hacking caused ‘deep mistrust’
Sculfor said outside court: “At the conclusion of this five-year process, words cannot fully express the years of torment and damage these actions have caused me.
“The deep mistrust it created impacted my friendships and relationships irreversibly. All the devious ways in which the press accessed my personal information including blagging, have been shocking to discover.
“The disclosure of deeply personal information in these articles created a constant sense of suspicion and hurt that people close to me were speaking about my private life behind my back.
“This situation has profoundly affected not only me, but also my family and friends, and it has significantly harmed my career the effects of which I continue to live with today.
“I firmly believe that a free press plays an important role in society, but it must operate with honesty, responsibility, and integrity.”
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