Campaigner Heather Mills wins payout over phone hacking claims
Former model Heather Mills has said she feels “joy and vindication” after reaching a settlement against the now-defunct News of the World over long-standing phone hacking claims.
Mills, the former wife of Beatles star Paul McCartney, claimed she had won the “highest media libel settlement in British history” and a “complete and unmitigated apology for the targeted smear campaign waged against us by News Group Newspapers” (NGN).
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The settlement was reached on the basis that NGN made no admission of liability in relation to their allegations of voicemail interception or other unlawful information gathering at The Sun.
Mills said she and her sister, Fiona Mills, had suffered an invasion of their privacy and the publication of “countless falsehoods and lies” between 1999 and 2010.
“My motivation to win this decade-long fight stemmed from a desire to obtain justice, not only for my family, my charities and myself, but for the thousands of innocent members of the public who, like me, have suffered similar ignominious, criminal treatment at the hands of one of the world’s most powerful media groups, she said.
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She said the phone hacking had affected the ability of her landmine and animal charities to raise funds.
Ben Silverstone, acting for NGN, told the High Court: “The defendant is here today, through me, to offer its sincere apologies to Ms Heather Mills and Ms Fiona Mills for the distress caused to them by the invasion of their privacy by individuals working for or on behalf of News of the World. The defendant accepts that such activity should never have taken place and that it has no right to intrude into the private lives of Ms Heather Mills or Ms Fiona Mills in this way.”