News of the World to compensate phone hacking scandal victims

London, Apr.9 (ANI): News of the World owner Rupert Murdoch has apologized and said a compensation fund would be set up for victims of the phone hacking scandal. News of The World hopes to pay less than 20 million pounds to the victims, including actress Sienna Miller.

The firm said it had asked its lawyers to "establish a compensation scheme with a view to dealing with justifiable claims fairly and efficiently."

"Past behaviour at the News of the World in relation to voicemail interception is a matter of genuine regret," it said in a statement.

BBC's business editor Robert Peston called it an "absolutely dramatic development" and said the company believed most claims would be settled for less than 100000 pounds each."

He said News International was offering to settle with eight people, including well-known names such as former Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, designer Kelly Hoppen and sports commentator Andy Gray.

Others who could be compensated are lawyer David Mills, Joan Hammell, former aide to former Deputy PM John Prescott, Nicola Phillips, assistant to publicist Max Clifford and former Olympian and talent agent Sky Andrew.

A News of the World reporter and an ex-news editor were arrested and bailed earlier this week over allegations of gaining illegal access to hundreds of mobile phone voicemail accounts held by a variety of people of interest to the newspaper to scoop stories.

News International has approached the High Court judge with a way of settling all the cases as a group, and the judge is planning to hold a case conference for all the active cases next Friday, BBC reports.

Mark Lewis, a solicitor involved in several of the current cases, said that the paper's apology was a "step in the right direction".

"Offers will have to be looked at and considered but they should have done this in the first place," he said, adding that the final compensation could run into million of pounds and the individual amounts would vary case by case.

"These individuals have had their privacy invaded. For some, it has had far-reaching effects on their career. Some people have lost their jobs," he said. (ANI)