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  1. Media Law
December 17, 2012

Phone-hacking: James Blunt wins ‘substantial’ payout from News of the World publisher

By Andrew Pugh

Singer James Blunt has settled his phone-hacking claim against former News of the World publisher News Group Newspapers.

Blunt’s lawyers Carter-Ruck said NGN agreed to pay a “substantial sum” in damages to Blunt together with his legal costs.

The former soldier was contacted by officers from the Met’s hacking investigation Operation Weeting last year and shown evidence the News of the World hacked his voicemail messages on a number of occasions from at least 2006.

A statement released on behalf of the singer said: “Mr Blunt has always been security conscious, in the knowledge that he was in telephone contact with serving members of the armed services who were on operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“He had even changed his voicemail PIN in 2006 and so was shocked and concerned to learn that he had been targeted by the News of the World and that his privacy had been violated.

“In light of the unlawful behaviour, Mr Blunt issued proceedings against News Group Newspapers in September 2011.”

 

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