Friday, April 15, 2011

Sienna Miller 'offered �100k over hacking'

Sienna Miller has reportedly been offered �100,000 in compensation by News of the World publisher News International over the phone hacking scandal.

The level of compensation offered to Miller was revealed today at a court hearing in London. The actress is understood to have neither accepted nor rejected the offer, which follows last week's admission of liability by News International in a number of cases of alleged phone hacking.

Miller's former partner, the actor Jude Law, is also expected to launch legal proceedings against the News of the World over claims his phone was hacked.

Police are currently working through 9,200 pages of material seized from Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator said to be employed by Rupert Murdoch's tabloid to hack into voicemails.

At the hearing in the High Court today, Jason Beer QC, representing the Metropolitan police, said that the number of potential victims could be "substantially" higher than 91 people.

The figure of 91 refers to the total number of pin numbers for mobile phone voicemail inboxes found in possession of Mulcaire, who was convicted of intercepting messages in January 2007.

Beer said: "It is wrong to say that 91 is the answer, that that is the maximum [number of victims], it may be on a bigger scale."

So far, News International is facing lawsuits from 24 high profile figures who believe that their voicemail messages were intercepted by News of the World journalists. However, many more are now expected to come forward to gain compensation from the publishing giant.

Judge Justice Vos said that four phone-hacking test cases - involving Miller, Sky Andrew, Kelly Hoppen and Andy Gray - could be heard as early as December this year. As arguably the most high profile celebrity involved, Miller's case is being widely regarded as the lead case in the scandal.

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