Evidence 'destroyed' in hacking cases

Evidence 'destroyed' in hacking cases

THE illegal news gathering methods at the News of the World went beyond telephone hacking and included email interception, the newspaper's publisher admitted publicly for the first time.

The now defunct Sunday tabloid hacked into an email account belonging to the son of the mass murderer Harold Shipman, News International acknowledged at a High Court hearing.
In a statement read out by lawyers, the company apologised for the distress caused to Christopher Shipman by ''the unlawful interception of his emails and obtaining his private and confidential information''.

The admission came as it was announced that 37 individuals have agreed damages settlements after News admitted a series of hacking allegations.

Rupert Murdoch's company has agreed to pay settlements ranging from £25,000 ($A30,900) to £130,000.
Public figures including the actor Jude Law and Guy Pelly, a friend of Prince Harry, were among those who received payouts.

Their cases will now not go to court.
Jude Law said in a prepared statement read out in court that the effect had been profound.

''For several years leading up to 2006, I was suspicious about how information concerning my private life was coming out in the press. I changed my phones, I had my house swept for bugs but still the information kept being published. I started to become distrustful of people close to me.''

There was an article that referred to phone calls that his assistant, Ben Jackson, had made to Law on arrival at an airport, and stories based on messages he had left for his children's nanny.

Law accepted a settlement of £130,000 plus legal costs and said he had achieved everything he wanted from the litigation.
''I hope this means that they will never invade my privacy again. They have also finally given a proper apology,'' he said.

The damages paid out by News International came to £645,000. But that covered only the 15 payouts that were made public. The size of a further 22 payouts were not declared.
The figure is likely to increase once the legal costs, which will also be paid by News International, are calculated.

The hacking scandal is thought to have cost News International upwards of £10 million in payouts.

More than 70 other victims are in the process of launching damages claims. Police have identified 803 hacking victims.
The admissions also led to the Sun being dragged into the scandal after News admitted that some stories published by the paper were a breach of privacy. There was no suggestion that the Sun was involved in hacking.

Lawyers acting for many of those who settled alleged that senior executives at the News of the World ''deliberately destroyed evidence'' as part of a ''conspiracy'' to cover up the extent of phone hacking.

A joint statement by three leading British law firms said the compensation had been agreed ''on the basis that senior employees and directors of News Group Newspapers knew about the wrongdoing and sought to conceal it by deliberately deceiving investigators and destroying evidence''.

Pictures:
Jude Law, with wife Sadie Frost, won a £130,000 settlement for his phone being hacked by News of the World. Photo: AP