Heather Mills, ex-wife of Paul McCartney, gets UK phone hacking apology and payout she claims is ‘highest’ ever
- Mills and her sister won a ‘substantial settlement’ and received a formal apology from the now defunct News of the World tabloid
- She claimed the settlement was ‘the highest’ in British legal history, though its exact size was not revealed
Heather Mills, the former wife of Paul McCartney, and her sister have received an apology and a settlement from Britain’s defunct News of the World tabloid over the hacking of their phones.
We have been awarded the highest media libel settlement in British legal history
Mills and her sister Fiona both received a formal apology in Britain’s High Court on Monday. In a statement read outside the court, she said she felt “joy and vindication” at the settlement.
“Both on behalf of myself and for 90 other innocent victims, as part of a class action legal suit, we have been awarded the highest media libel settlement in British legal history and with it a complete and unmitigated apology for the targeted smear campaign waged against us by News Group Newspapers, including hacking, invasion of privacy and the publication of countless falsehoods and lies between 1999 and 2010,” she said.
“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.”
Mills is one of a number of celebrities who have received settlements in the prolonged phone hacking scandal, which closed the Rupert Murdoch-owned News of the World in 2011. The paper was found to have hacked into the voicemail of many prominent Britons in a gross violation of privacy.
