British celebrities and politicians compensated for phone hacking

Jan 19, 2012, 13:10 GMT

London - A string of British celebrities, football stars and politicians have agreed financial compensation settlements in the long-running phone-hacking scandal involving the now defunct News of the World tabloid newspaper, the High Court in London said Thursday.

Actor Jude Law received 130,000 pounds (200,000 dollars) for having his mobile phone hacked repeatedly between 2003 and 2006, the court heard.

His former wife and co-actress Sadie Frost was awarded 50,000 pounds, while payouts were also given to footballer Ashley Cole, singer and model Dannii Minogue and Labour politicians John Prescott and Chris Bryant.

A former lover of the late Princess Diana, cavalry officer James Hewitt, was also among the 19 people who settled their claims with the newspaper, which was owned by Australian media magnate Rupert Murdoch.

Murdoch's News International last year closed down the News of the World over the phone-hacking scandal. Most of the people pursuing damages had now reached agreements, lawyers said.

'The claimants now have some clarity about what happened to them in the years between 2000 and 2005 and satisfaction that justice has finally been done,' said Tamsin Allen, of law firm Bindmans.

Many of them have wondered for years how tabloid newspapers were able to obtain secret personal information about them, even suspecting their closest friends and relatives, she said.

'Lives have been severely affected by this cavalier approach to private information and the law.'