The publisher of the Sun newspaper has set aside £127million to cover the costs of phone-hacking court cases, recent company filings show.
News Group Newspapers said they hoped the sum would resolve the “end of the legal battle” sparked by years of revelations that employees had intercepted voicemails from celebrities and others.
A case brought up by Prince Harry is among those dealt with, the BBC understands.
The News Group said the sum was not a sign that it had accepted liability.
Hundreds of celebrities have filed voicemail bugging lawsuits against News Group Newspapers, publisher of the Sun and the defunct News of the World, for more than a decade.
The many phone hacking allegations against News of the World led to the closure of the newspaper in 2011.
Since a judge set a deadline for new lawsuits to join the current wave coursing through the courts, a rush of new cases has been filed.
A spokesman for News Group Newspapers said: “In 2012 an unconditional apology was issued to all those who had filed lawsuits against News of the World for wiretapping of voicemails. Since then, NGN has paid the plaintiffs monetary damages.”
The News Group spokesman added: “There are a number of disputed claims still making their way through the civil courts, including some aimed at bringing The Sun in. The Sun accepts no liability and makes no concessions to the allegations. It is, of course, standard litigation practice for the parties to reach an agreement before the court proceeding to resolve the matter on commercial grounds.”
News Group has awarded £46.8m in damages and legal costs to the plaintiff in relation to phone hacking and improper payments to civil servants in the 12 months to 3 July 2022 and a further £53m in future costs totaling 99, £8 million envisaged, according to accounts filed with the house.
It has budgeted a further £27.5m for legal fees related to the closure of News of the World.
That was a significant increase on the £49million in legal fees and damages the firm disclosed the previous year.
The final sum could be significantly higher or lower “depending on the course of the legal dispute”, according to the company in the balance sheet.
Legal costs helped the company suffer an annual loss of £127m compared to £52m a year earlier.
Revenue rose slightly to £320m, boosted by higher digital ad revenue.
News Corp split from Fox Corp in 2013, and as part of the deal, Fox agreed to reimburse News UK, News Group’s parent company, for costs of legal proceedings before the split.
News Corp is run by billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who is CEO, and controlled by the Murdoch family.
Actress Sienna Miller and footballer Paul Gascoigne, who settled a case against News Group in 2021, are among dozens of high-profile figures who have solved cases against the firm.
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