News company apologises over phone hacking scandal

NEWS International has admitted liability and “apologised unreservedly” to a number of public figures over the News of the World phone hacking allegations.

It said it had also instructed lawyers to set up a compensation scheme to deal with “justifiable claims”.

The company said the move applied to allegations of voicemail hacking at the News of the World from 2004 to 2006.

News International said “past behaviour’ at the newspaper was “a matter of genuine regret’.

A number of well-known figures took High Court action over allegations of phone-hacking, including actresses Leslie Ash and Sienna Miller.

It is not known who has received an apology.

A company statement said: “News International has decided to approach some civil litigants with an unreserved apology and an admission of liability in cases meeting specific criteria. We have also asked our lawyers to establish a compensation scheme with a view to dealing with justifiable claims fairly and efficiently.”

The company is working with the Metropolitan Police and it said it was its own “voluntary disclosure” in January which led to the re-opening of the police investigation.

Mark Lewis, who is acting for a number of stars who claimed their phones were hacked, said the compensation could easily run into millions of pounds.

“At the moment it’s not been disclosed who is going to be compensated or how,” he said. “But it’s a step in the right direction.

“For some of these people, it has had far-reaching effects on their career. Some people have lost their jobs.”

The phone hacking controversy has been a source of continuing embarrassment for News International at a time when its parent group, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, has been seeking to take control of BSkyB.

On Tuesday detectives investigating the allegations arrested the paper’s chief reporter and its former head of news.

Neville Thurlbeck, 50, and Ian Edmondson, 42, were held by Scotland Yard detectives when they voluntarily attended separate police stations in London.

They were the first people arrested since Scotland Yard reopened its inquiry into claims that staff at the top-selling Sunday newspaper hacked into the answerphone messages of celebrities, politicians and royals.

Scotland Yard has endured repeated criticism over its handling of its original phone-hacking inquiry, which led to the conviction of News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire in 2007.