Mirror group faces phone-hack lawsuits
Source: Agencies |
August 6, 2011, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
SEVERAL alleged victims of tabloid phone hacking in Britain will soon file lawsuits against a second newspaper group, Piers Morgan's former employer Trinity Mirror PLC, their lawyer said yesterday.
Mark Lewis said the claims would be filed in "a few weeks," but would not disclose identities of his clients or say when he would move the court.
Lewis represents the family of Milly Dowler, a 13-year-old girl abducted and murdered by a pedophile in 2002. The revelation a month ago that her voicemail messages had been accessed by the News of the World while she was still missing outraged British opinion, and triggered a crisis for Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.
The phone hacking scandal centers on allegations that journalists eavesdropped on private phone messages, bribed police for information and hacked e-mail accounts.
So far the crisis has centered on Murdoch's media empire, leading him to shut down the News of the World tabloid and abandon a bid to take over British Sky Broadcasting.
But there have also been allegations of hacking by other newspapers. This week Paul McCartney's ex-wife, Heather Mills, claimed in a BBC interview that she was hacked by a Trinity Mirror journalist in 2001. McCartney said on Thursday that he planned to contact police over the claim.
The BBC did not identify the journalist cited by Mills, but said it was not Morgan, who was editor of the group's flagship tabloid, the Daily Mirror, between 1995 and 2004.
Meanwhile, a judge has cut the sentence of an activist who hit Murdoch with a shaving foam pie as the mogul testified to British lawmakers.
Jonathan May-Bowles was sentenced on Tuesday to six weeks in jail for assaulting the 80-year-old media tycoon as he gave evidence to the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee on July 19.
A judge yesterday rejected his attempt to overturn the sentence, but reduced it to four weeks.
Mark Lewis said the claims would be filed in "a few weeks," but would not disclose identities of his clients or say when he would move the court.
Lewis represents the family of Milly Dowler, a 13-year-old girl abducted and murdered by a pedophile in 2002. The revelation a month ago that her voicemail messages had been accessed by the News of the World while she was still missing outraged British opinion, and triggered a crisis for Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.
The phone hacking scandal centers on allegations that journalists eavesdropped on private phone messages, bribed police for information and hacked e-mail accounts.
So far the crisis has centered on Murdoch's media empire, leading him to shut down the News of the World tabloid and abandon a bid to take over British Sky Broadcasting.
But there have also been allegations of hacking by other newspapers. This week Paul McCartney's ex-wife, Heather Mills, claimed in a BBC interview that she was hacked by a Trinity Mirror journalist in 2001. McCartney said on Thursday that he planned to contact police over the claim.
The BBC did not identify the journalist cited by Mills, but said it was not Morgan, who was editor of the group's flagship tabloid, the Daily Mirror, between 1995 and 2004.
Meanwhile, a judge has cut the sentence of an activist who hit Murdoch with a shaving foam pie as the mogul testified to British lawmakers.
Jonathan May-Bowles was sentenced on Tuesday to six weeks in jail for assaulting the 80-year-old media tycoon as he gave evidence to the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee on July 19.
A judge yesterday rejected his attempt to overturn the sentence, but reduced it to four weeks.
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