Doncaster football legend Kevin Keegan awarded damages after newspaper phone-hacking scandal

Doncaster born football legend Kevin Keegan is among a host of celebrities who have received damages after settling phone-hacking claims against a national newspaper.
Kevin KeeganKevin Keegan
Kevin Keegan

The Armthorpe-born England and Liverpool legend was among 44 celebrities and public figures to agree to payouts against Mirror Group Newspapers.

Author Jeffrey Archer and actress Patsy Kensit have also settled and more than 100 are believed to have sued the paper over interception of phone messages which a judge described as being on “a very large scale” at the Mirror titles.

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Keegan's was among the well-known names whose cases were resolved on Tuesday by the payment of undisclosed damages and an apology.

They were in a long list of individuals who were the subject of agreed statements read out to Mr Justice Mann at London’s High Court.

It is understood that some of the settlements exceed the £260,250 record damages awarded to actress and businesswoman Sadie Frost following a High Court trial in 2015.

In the case of Keegan, the judge heard that MGN had agreed to pay him compensation and to join in a statement to apologise to him for the misuse of his private information.

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After details of the case were given in court, Keegan’s solicitor, John Newell, said in a statement: “Discovering that his private communications with his family, friends and associates had been unlawfully accessed was a devastating intrusion.”

Newell said: “When Kevin was contacted by the Met Police and informed that his mobile phone had been routinely hacked and that his personal information had been obtained unlawfully, he was shocked and appalled.”

He said the “full extent of the hacking and the impact that this has had on Kevin’s personal and professional relationships may never be known”.

Newell added: “But Kevin is pleased that Mirror Group have acknowledged their wrongdoing and publicly apologised. He feels vindicated and believes that justice has been done.”

Trinity Mirror has estimated that dealing with hacking litigation will cost it more than £50m.