Coronation Street star Michael Le Vell awarded damages in phone hacking case
Coronation Street star Michael Le Vell has been awarded more than £30,000 in damages following his phone hacking claim against Mirror Group Newspapers.
The actor, also known as Michael Turner off-stage, plays Kevin Webster on the long-running ITV soap. He was among several individuals alleging phone hacking by journalists working for Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), the publisher of titles such as The Mirror, Sunday Mirror and the Sunday People.
In the same High Court judgment, handed down today (December 15), Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, was awarded £140,600 in damages after his own case was proved in part.
Le Vell claimed that 27 articles written about him had used unlawfully gathered information. His case was also proved in part in the judge's ruling.
Related: Hollyoaks' Nikki Sanderson was warned by co-star over potential phone hacking
In a press summary of his 386-page judgment (which is available to read in its entirety), Mr Justice Fancourt said he had concluded that, out of the 27 articles under consideration in Le Vell's claim, evidence was established to confirm "phone hacking or other unlawful information gathering" in four instances, while two additional invoices also showed "unlawful information gathering".
As a result, Le Vell was awarded a total of £31,650 in damages, which "includes a sum for aggravated damages".
Hollyoaks and former Coronation Street star Nikki Sanderson also brought claims against the media group, but they were dismissed under the Limitations Act because they were submitted too late.
Fiona Wightman, another claimant who had alleged phone hacking during the time of her marriage to actor and comedian Paul Whitehouse, also had her claim dismissed under the Limitations Act.
Related: Hollyoaks star Nikki Sanderson receives apology from newspaper over private investigators
"I have nevertheless dealt in my judgment with all the articles and invoices about which she complained and have reached conclusions about them," Mr Justice Fancourt noted in regard to Sanderson's claim.
"Ms Sanderson's allegations were proved in relation to 9 out of 37 articles and 3 other invoices."
In regard to Wightman's claim, the judge noted that: "I found in her case that her complaint about 1 article was proved, as were complaints about 15 invoices that demonstrated unlawful gathering of Ms Wightman's private information."
Court documents disclosed during the hearing revealed that some Corrie cast members accused Le Vell of being a "mole" when articles on other stars appeared in the press, allegations which the soap star was "devastated" by.
During his evidence, Le Vell claimed a "total invasion of [his] privacy" as a result of unlawful information-gathering about him, and that "lots of relationships were damaged" over the mole accusation.
In a statement issued on Friday, MGN said it wanted to "apologise unreservedly" for what it described as "historical wrongdoing" and welcomed the judgment, which it felt provided the organisation with "the necessary clarity to move forward from events that took place many years ago".
The barrister David Sherborne, reading out a statement on behalf of Prince Harry, said: "Today is a great day for truth as well as accountability".
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