Charlotte Church settles £600,000 hacking case

The 26-year-old singer was in court as the case brought by her and her parents concluded with a £600,000 payout, including £300,000 for their legal costs.

Her lawyer told the judge the now-defunct newspaper targeted her and her voicemail messages repeatedly, and unlawfully obtained her private medical information and details of her personal relationships with her family and friends, beginning when she was just 16 and also including her parents, James and Maria.

He said Mrs Church was a vulnerable person with a complex medical history which the newspaper found out about, publishing private details of her hospital treatment.

“At her lowest moment, the News of the World issued her with an ultimatum and coerced her into giving them an in-depth interview about her self-harming and attempted suicide,” he said. “She felt she had no choice but to give the interview and was deeply traumatised by the publication of the story in the News of the World.”

Michael Silverleaf QC, for NGN, said: “I am here today to offer my client’s sincere apologies to the Church family for the way they have been treated. NGN acknowledges that they should never have had to endure what they have suffered and that NGN are liable for the damage that they have caused.”

The payout came as the Leveson Inquiry heard how evidence gathered by the Metropolitan Police suggested a “culture of illegal payments” at the Sun newspaper.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers told Lord Justice Leveson that “payments by journalists to public officials” had been identified in the “police, military, health and Government”.

“There appears to have been a culture at the Sun of illegal payments, and systems have been created to facilitate such payments whilst hiding the identity of the officials receiving the money,” she said, adding: “There is recognition by the journalists this behaviour is illegal, reference being made to staff ‘risking losing their pension or job’, to the need for ‘care’ and to the need for ‘cash payments’.”

Cases investigated did not involve “the odd drink or meal”, she said. “Some of the initial emails reveal, upon further detailed investigation, multiple payments to individuals of thousands of pounds.”

Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corporation, which owns the Sun, issued a statement saying the wrongdoing described no longer existed at the newspaper.