Hugh Grant settles phone-hacking claim against Mirror newspapers

Actor Hugh Grant has settled his phone-hacking claim against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), after receiving damages amounting to what is understood to be a six-figure sum.

Grant was at the High Court in central London to hear his lawyer detail the substantial settlement, which comes a little over five years after the actor settled a similar case against News of the World publisher News Group.

The 57-year-old has donated the damages to Hacked Off, a group campaigning for press reform, of which he has been a long-time supporter.

Lawyer Anjlee Saigol told Mr Justice Mann in court: "Mr Grant brought this action in relation to alleged illegal misuses of his private information, obtained by hacking into his voicemails, as well as blagging and surveillance, committed by MGN's journalists at all three of its newspapers over, as MGN now accepts, many years.

"Although Mr Grant now has some clarity as to the extent of MGN's unlawful activities in relation to him, one of his principal reasons for pursuing this case was to uncover and establish the wider truth about MGN's investigations into and knowledge of its unlawful activities before it finally admitted these practices in September 2014."

In 2011 it was reported that the phones of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, as well as the relatives of victims in the 2005 London bombings and soldiers who died overseas, were hacked by British publications belonging to News International.

Advertiser boycotts caused the News of the World to close and public outcry forced the resignations of News Corporation director James Murdoch and chief executive Rebekah Brooks among others.

The scandal grew over time, leading to numerous lawsuits against News International, Mirror News Group and other publishers.

In the summer of 2011, then Prime Minister David Cameron launched a public inquiry – the Leveson Inquiry – into culture and practices of the British press.