Heather Mills wins ‘record’ payout over phone-hacking claims against News Group

News Group apologises for invasion of privacy at the High Court

Heather Mills has said she and other alleged phone hacking victims have won a “record” settlement.

The campaigner, who was once married to Sir Paul McCartney, received a formal apology at the High Court after settling her claim against the defunct News of the World.

“We have been awarded the highest media libel settlement in British legal history, and with it, a complete and unmitigated apology for the criminal, 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,” Ms Mills said.

The claim was over privacy, rather than libel, and it was unclear if Ms Mills was referring to the total amount paid to all those who have settled claims against News Group over phone hacking so far.

She said she had spent a decade fighting legal battles “on behalf of myself and 90 other innocent victims”.

Ms Mills accused the News of the World’s former owner, News Group Newspapers, of “destroying” her reputation and causing thousands of potential beneficiaries of her amputee, animal and children’s charities to miss out through a drop in funding.

“I hope that this serves as a wake-up call and symbolic vindication for all those who have suffered similar treatment,” she added.

The former model and her sister, Fiona Mills, settled their claims in February for an undisclosed sum.

A hearing in London on Monday was told that the sisters “experienced strange activity with their telephones [and noticed] journalists and photographers turning up in unexpected locations” between 1998 and 2008.

Ms Mills said she found “intrusive personal information” about her private life and family being reported in News Group publications without any identifiable source, sparking “distrust and suspicion” among friends and relatives.

A lawyer representing News Group apologised for invading their privacy.

Ben Silverstone said: “The defendant is here today, through me, to offer its sincere apologies to Ms Heather Mills and Ms Fiona Mills for the distress caused to them by the invasion of their privacy by individuals working for or on behalf of the News of the World.

“The defendant accepts that such activity should never have taken place and that it had no right to intrude into the private lives of Ms Heather Mills or Fiona Mills in this way.”

The court heard that News Group had agreed to pay “a substantial amount in compensation for the distress the claimants have suffered”, as well as legal costs.

David Sherborne, representing the Mills sisters, said: “The claimants were, and still are, profoundly upset to discover the sustained and repeated invasions of privacy by individuals working for or acting on behalf of the News of the World.

“The claimants believe that the publication of articles in the defendant’s newspapers had a seriously corrosive effect on [their] relationships with their friends and family, some of which can never be repaired.”

News Group made no admission of liability in relation to their allegations of voicemail interception or unlawful information gathering at The Sun.

Ms Mills, a philanthropist and author who directs the VBites vegan food company, was the subject of widespread media coverage when she had part of her leg amputated after being hit by a police motorcycle in 1993.

She married Beatles star Sir Paul in 2002 and they separated four years later, with the split culminating in a highly publicised divorce battle at the Royal Courts of Justice.

Ms Mills previously received £50,000 in damages from the Sunday Mirror over a false report claiming one of her charities had been investigated over money raised for Indian earthquake victims.

In 2012, the Metropolitan Police informed her that evidence seized from private investigator Glenn Mulcaire during Operation Weeting suggested her phone had been hacked.