NOTW pays damages to 37 hacking victims

RUPERT MURDOCH’S British newspaper company has agreed to pay damages to 37 high-profile victims of tabloid phone hacking, including actor Jude Law, footballer Ashley Cole, a friend of Prince William and former deputy prime minister John Prescott.

In the 15 settlements whose financial terms were made public, amounts generally ran into the tens of thousands of pounds — although Law received £130,000 (€155,600) to settle claims against the now-shuttered News of the World tabloid and its sister paper, The Sun.

Law was one of 60 people who have sued News Group Newspapers, claiming their mobile phone voicemails were hacked. Other cases whose settlement was announced at London’s High Court yesterday included claims by former government ministers Chris Bryant and Tessa Jowell, rugby player Gavin Henson and Sara Payne, the mother of murdered schoolgirl, Sarah.