21 May 2015

Phone hacking payouts for Paul Gascoigne and Sadie Frost

More than £1m in damages are awarded to celebrities, including Paul Gascoigne, Sadie Frost, Shane Ritchie and Alan Yentob over phone hacking by Mirror Group Newspapers.

Paul Gascoigne (Reuters)

The former England footballer (pictured above, in 2013) was awarded £188,250 in damages at the high court, and actress Sadie Frost (pictured below) received £260,250.

Lawyers for phone-hacking victims claimed today’s payouts, totalling around £1.2m, were “unparalleled”.

Eight damages awards were announced at London’s high court today after a three-week hearing in March to determine the extent of the wrongdoing at the group and what level of compensation was appropriate.

Sadie Frost (Getty Images)

Mr Justice Mann also awarded £85,000 to TV executive Alan Yentob, £117,500 and £157,250 respectively to actresses Shobna Gulati and Lucy Taggart, and £155,000 to soap star Shane Richie (pictured below).

Today’s judgment represents a milestone in the development of privacy law in the UK Daniel Taylor, solicitor

TV producer Robert Ashworth, who was married to actress Tracy Shaw, received £201,250, and flight attendant Lauren Alcorn, who had a relationship with soccer star Rio Ferdinand, was awarded £72,500.

The judge said the victims had all suffered a “serious infringement of privacy” and the scale of hacking was “very substantial indeed”.

The judge’s ruling will provide a framework for resolving similar civil actions in the pipeline.

Daniel Taylor, of Taylor Hampton, solicitors who represented three of the eight 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, on a scale much greater than has ever been awarded previously.”

Alan Yentob (Getty Images)

TV executive Alan Yentob was awarded £85,000.