Eight celebrities have won damages of £1.2 million from Mirror Group Newspapers after a high court battle.
The decision comes after a three week hearing at London’s High Court to establish the extent of the wrongdoing and the rate of compensation.
The payouts include of £100,000 to sports star Paul Gascoigne and Eastenders stars Shane Richie and Lucy Benjamin.
The hearing heard how the phone hacking was carried out by “teams of journalists” across the Mirror, Sunday Mirror, and the People newspapers.
Counsel David Sherborne said it is unknown when the journalists began the practice of incepting people’s voicemail messages.
Trinity Mirror, which owns and operates the three newspapers, admitted liability of the actions of its journalists in February and agreed that a number of stories would not have been published with the illegally obtained information.
The newspaper group has publicly and privately apologised to the victims of the hacking and expressed regret at its journalists actions in the past.
[note note_color=”#efefef” radius=”0″]Payouts from the Mirror Group for phone hacking
Sadie Frost – £260,000
Robert Ashworth – £201,250
Paul Gascoigne – £188,250
Lucy Benjamin – £157,250
Shane Richie – £155,000
Sunita Alahan – £117,500
Alan Yentob – £85,000
Rio Ferdinand – £72,500
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