15 more phone-hacking claims against The Sun and The News of the World publisher News Group Newspapers have been settled, with a statement read out in open court this morning on behalf of claimant Sienna Miller.

The full statement set out the claimant’s belief that:

• The Sun newspaper was engaged in “prolonged” and “substantial” phone hacking, and personally targeted Ms Miller
• Former editor Rebekah Brooks was responsible for leaking the news that Ms Miller was pregnant, an intrusion which had a profound and damaging effect on her

The Sun sought, unsuccessfully, to persuade the judge that Ms Miller should not be entitled to present the full details of her case in this statement.

Hacked Off Chief Executive Nathan Sparkes said,

News UK continues with its desperate and expensive legal strategy of avoiding trials of phone-hacking claims against The Sun. Today’s Statement, approved by the court, sets out in detail Ms Miller’s belief that she was hacked by The Sun newspaper, and that the newspaper relied on illegal means to discover that she was pregnant.

News UK’s denial of the allegation that phone-hacking occurred at The Sun, while spending ever-larger sums to prevent hacking claims from being tested at trial, means that the public cannot know the truth about what took place. A drip-drip of further revelations of illegality across the largest newspaper groups has followed the Government’s shameful decision to shut down the Leveson Inquiry in 2018. The Government’s suppression of Part Two of the Leveson Inquiry will prolong the impact of the scandal, while leaving allegations of corruption and criminality at large newspaper groups un-investigated.