Mirror phone-hacking ‘worse than at Murdoch papers’

The scale of phone hacking inside Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) may have been larger than at newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch, according to details given at a High Court hearing.

Trinity Mirror plc is Britain's biggest newspaper group, publishing 240 regional papers, including the Rochdale Observer and the Manchester Evening News, as well as the national titles such as the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and People.

Fresh details of the “widespread and habitual” nature of voicemail hacking at MGN emerged at a legal hearing yesterday, four weeks ahead of the first scheduled civil law hacking trial against MGN, with as many as 41 journalists working across the Mirror, Sunday Mirror and People newspapers now alleged to have used internal office lines to make calls to mobile phones and illegally access private voicemails

With MGN continuing to settle outstanding claims as the trial date approaches – with average damages worth £50,000 plus the same sum again paid out in legal costs – the newspaper group is looking at a potential bill running to tens of millions of pounds.