London - Celebrities including Paul Gascoigne and Sadie Frost were on Thursday awarded around £1.2million in damages over phone hacking by Mirror Group Newspapers.
The ‘unparalleled’ payouts dwarf the amounts received in compensation by people whose lives have been destroyed by violent crimes such as murder and rape.
A judge said the celebrities had all suffered a ‘serious infringement of privacy’ and the scale of hacking at the newspapers was ‘very substantial indeed’.
Trinity Mirror, which publishes the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People, said it has more than doubled its phone hacking payout fund to £28million, but insisted the costs remained ‘manageable’.
Eight compensation awards were announced at London’s High Court on Thursday after a three-week hearing in March. Former England footballer Gascoigne, 47, who has battled alcoholism, was granted £188,250, while actress Miss Frost, 49, will receive £260 250.
By contrast, under the Government’s criminal injuries compensation scheme, the close relative of someone who is murdered can receive £11 000.
Mr Justice Mann also granted £85,000 to TV executive Alan Yentob, £117 500 to former Coronation Street star Shobna Gulati and £157,250 to ex-EastEnders actress Lucy Taggart. Shane Richie, also known for EastEnders, was awarded £155 000.
TV producer Robert Ashworth, who was married to actress Tracy Shaw, received £201 250, while flight attendant Lauren Alcorn - who had a relationship with footballer Rio Ferdinand - was awarded £72 500.
The sums granted to each victim depended on the number of intrusive articles, the length of time for which they were hacked and the level of upset caused.
Gascoigne’s solicitor Gerald Shamash said his client was ‘relieved to have finally found out that his private information was hacked, resulting in many articles that grossly intruded into his private life, rather than having been leaked by someone close to him’. Mark Thomson, for Miss Frost, said the actress was ‘thrilled with the outcome’.
Trinity Mirror, which owns MGN, said it was considering whether to seek permission to launch an appeal. Earlier in the year, it published a ‘sincere and unreserved’ apology for the voicemail interception.
Daniel Taylor, whose law firm represented three victims, said: ‘Today’s judgment represents a milestone in the development of privacy law in the UK and the awarding of six-figure damages is truly historic and unparalleled.’
Daily Mail