Trinity Mirror: yes, we did hack phones

The publisher of titles including the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People said it had apologised to the four individuals. It has also settled six other hacking claims for undisclosed sums.

It has also settled six other hacking claims for undisclosed sums. These were Sven-Goran Eriksson, Garry Flitcroft, Abbie Gibson, Christopher Eccleston, Christie Roche and Phil Dale.

‘Compensation’

Trinity Mirror said in a statement: “The company today confirms that its subsidiary MGN Ltd has admitted liability to four individuals who had sued MGN for alleged interception of their voicemails many years ago.

“MGN has apologised to those individuals and agreed to pay compensation. The amount of that compensation will be assessed by the court if it cannot be agreed.

“The company can also confirm that six other voicemail interception claims have already been settled for agreed sums.”

Trinity Mirror said in July that it had set aside £4m to deal with civil claims over phone-hacking allegations.

‘Historical legal issues’

In the same month, reporter Dan Evans was given a suspended prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to two charges of conspiring to hack phones.

One charge related to his time at the Sunday Mirror between 2003 and 2005, the other to his subsequent employment from 2004 to 2010 at the News of the World.

Trinity Mirror has previously acknowledged the continuing impact of “historical legal issues” linked to phone-hacking allegations, including direct financial impact from legal claims, damage to reputation and distraction to senior management.

Scores of people, including high-profile celebrities, have reached similar settlements with the publishers of the now-defunct News Of The World newspaper after taking legal action in the wake of phone-hacking revelations.