Six victims of phone hacking carried out by the News of the World have received an apology from the now defunct paper’s publisher.
In a statement read in court today, News Group Newspapers – publisher of the Sun titles – offered its “sincerest apologies” to the victims, who included actor David Tennant (pictured) and British athlete Colin Jackson.
The Rupert Murdoch-owned publisher said it accepted that “such activity should never have taken place and that it had no right to intrude into the private life” of the hacking victims.
Also represented by law firm Collyer Bristow were Fran Cutler, Jess Morris, Tanya Frane and Sophia Myles.
Steven Heffer, partner and head of media and privacy at Collyer Bristow, said: “Our clients have been through a distressing ordeal and it is absolutely right that News Group Newspapers have apologised, acknowledged the harm they caused in open court and paid compensation.
“However, there are still many more claims that are expected to go ahead against News Group Newspapers.
“The further court cases became inevitable once News Group closed down its compensation scheme in 2013, despite a huge number of claims still being outstanding.”
The claims involved a range of allegations including unlawful phone hacking and so-called “blagging” of personal information by private investigators, a spokesperson for the law firms said at the time.
Allegations first broke out against News Group seven years ago, with fresh claims most recently filed last year. Collyer Bristow says it has represented more than 200 victims of phone hacking.
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