The publisher of Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World has paid singer Charlotte Church and her family £600,000 ($952,000) to settle a phone-hacking lawsuit, her lawyer said Monday.
The payment by Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers includes £300,000 in damages, plus legal costs, lawyer Mike Brookes said — far more than other hacking victims have been paid.
Speaking outside the court after the settlement was reached, Church said the behavior of tabloid journalists had “sickened and disgusted her,” and she did not believe the News International apology in court was sincere, according to Richard Allen Greene.
“They are not truly sorry; they are just sorry they got caught,” Church said.
Murdoch’s News of the World was closed down last summer over revelations about phone hacking and police bribery by people working for the newspaper. Targets of phone hacking included not only celebrities like Church but also victims of crime and terrorism, wounded troops and their families, and politicians.
