Tabloid ‘sorry’ after bugging stars’ phones

The company said it had instructed lawyers to set up a compensation scheme to deal with “justifiable claims” and said “past behaviour” at the newspaper was “a matter of genuine regret”.

The dramatic announcement came after a number of well-known figures took High Court action over allegations of phone-hacking.

It is understood that along with Miller, the company has issued apologies to former Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, her estranged husband lawyer David Mills and footballer turned broadcaster Andy Gray.

Football agent Sky Andrew, publicist Nicola Phillips and Joan Hammell, a former special adviser to Lord Prescott, are also believed to have received apologies through their solicitors.

News International said the move applied to allegations of voicemail hacking at the News of the World from 2004 to 2006. Designer Kelly Hoppen is also understood to have been issued with an apology, although only for that time period, and not for a later claim.

No one else is understood to have received an apology – other notable figures who have pursued the matter through the courts, including Leslie Ash and Lord Prescott, are not thought to be covered by the admissions.

Mark Lewis, who is acting for a number of stars who claimed their phones were hacked, said the final compensation bill could easily run into millions of pounds.

In a statement, the company said: “News International has decided to approach some civil litigants with an unreserved apology and an admission of liability in cases meeting specific criteria.

“We have also asked our lawyers to establish a compensation scheme with a view to dealing with justifiable claims fairly and efficiently. This will begin the process of bringing these cases to a fair resolution with damages appropriate to the extent of the intrusion.”

But the company said it would continue to contest cases that it believed were without merit.

The statement went on: “That said, past behaviour at the News of the World in relation to voicemail interception is a matter of genuine regret.

“It is now apparent that our previous inquiries failed to uncover important evidence and we acknowledge our actions then were not sufficiently robust.”

The company is working with the Metropolitan Police and it claimed it was its own “voluntary disclosure” in January which led to the re-opening of the police investigation.

Mr Lewis welcomed the announcement calling it a “step in the right direction”.

The controversy has been a source of continuing embarrassment for News International at a time when its parent group, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, has been seeking to take full control of BSkyB.

Lord Prescott, the former deputy prime minister, said the controversial takeover should be delayed until police have completed their inquiry into the allegations.

Earlier this week detectives investigating the allegations arrested the paper’s chief reporter and its former head of news.

Neville Thurlbeck, 50, and Ian Edmondson, 42, were held by Scotland Yard detectives on Tuesday when they voluntarily attended separate police stations in south-west London.

Officers questioned the pair on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications and unlawfully intercepting voicemail messages.

The men were later released on police bail to return in September.

The paper’s former editor Andy Coulson resigned as Prime Minister David Cameron’s director of communications in January

He stepped down after admitting that the continuing row about the affair was making his job impossible.