ITV put the ‘Tabloids On Trial’

Charlotte Church, Paul Gascoigne, Hugh Grant, Gordon Brown, and Prince Harry appear in a new documentary from ITN for ITV…

The public figures appear alongside hacking victim Paul Dadge who came to prominence for his role helping the wounded in the 7/7 terror attacks. All speak to ITV News’ Rebecca Barry who has reported on the hacking scandal for more than a decade.

The News of The World was hacking singer Charlotte from when she was a teenager and she describes how an overdose by her mother ended up in the press – with no idea how it had got there. She goes on to say that her mother has never recovered from the abuse she suffered as a result of media coverage in the years the former child star was at the peak of tabloid interest in the Noughties:

“My mother was already an incredibly vulnerable woman. Her mental health was really bad. And I’d found her after taking an overdose, and so she was in a really bad way, and that was straight in the press. Straight in the press, no idea again, where it came from. It was horrific. And she’s never been able to fully come back from the abuse that she suffered. My parents, they weren’t public people. They had never courted it, and they just got absolutely mullered, completely mullered by the tabloid press, like they were fair game. Like I was fair game. Why was I fair game?”

Charlotte sued The News of The World and settled for substantial damages and an apology for the way that she and her family had been treated.

Charlotte Church / ITN

Former England footballer Paul Gascoigne, who was catapulted to celebrity after breaking down in tears at Italia ’90, talks about the level of paranoia phone hacking had caused in his personal relationships – to the point where he suspected his own parents of selling stories:

“I was just speaking to my mum and dad, just them. And the next day it had come out in the papers. So I went mad. I said, what the f*** are you speaking to the papers for? They said, well, I haven’t spoken to them. I said, you have. You’re the only two I’ve spoken to. I love my mum and dad. So, to think they were, the thought they were hacking us wasn’t good.”

Mr Gascoigne sued Mirror Group Newspapers, who in 2015 were ordered to pay damages, publicly admitted the wrongdoing and apologised. A claim against The News of The World was settled with a full apology in 2012, and a later claim in 2021 against The Sun was settled without admission of liability.

Gordon Brown, who was Prime Minister between 2007 and 2010, tells the programme he believes some of his personal information – including bank accounts were illegally accessed by News Group Newspapers while he was in senior government positions:

Mr Brown has made accusations against News Group Newspapers of the unlawful information gathering since he gave evidence to the Leveson inquiry in 2011/12. It is strongly denied by the newspaper group.

Paul Gascoigne / ITN

In the programme, Hugh Grant speaks for the first time since he settled his unlawful information-gathering claim with the parent company of The Sun and now defunct News of the World  – he talks about a burglary at his flat that he suspected had been commissioned by The Sun, in the new ITV1 documentary.

Speaking in an interview with ITV News’s Rebecca Barry, the actor and campaigner describes the burglary and says he remains ‘bitter and determined to exact justice’ on those in the tabloid industry who he believes commissioned unlawful information gathering. Mr Grant reached a settlement with News Group Newspapers, which publishes The Sun, earlier in the year, the newspaper group settled the claim but did not admit liability.

In the interview Mr Grant tells Rebecca:

“So in the case of my flat burglary, yeah it was quite spectacular, in that the whole door had been taken off its hinges. It’s a big walk up, like four floors up, and yes, they’d been through the flat and nothing was stolen. They’d been there to get information. And a lot of information about the interior and the contents of my flat appeared in newspapers a couple of days later and there’s never been a burglary before or since.”

This is an allegation that News Group Newspapers have always strongly denied. He also says:

 “I don’t hold massive grievances against the footsoldiers or these guys who did this stuff. Not against them, but I remain bitter and determined to exact justice on the executives who commissioned this stuff.”

Hugh Grant / ITN

In response to allegations included in the programme, News Group Newspapers said:

In 2011 an apology was published by NGN to victims of voicemail interception by the News of the World. The company publicly committed to paying financial compensation and since then has paid settlements to those with proper claims. In some disputed cases, it has made commercial sense to come to a settlement agreement before trial to bring a resolution to the matter.

As we reach the tail end of the litigation NGN is drawing a line under the disputed matters. The civil proceedings have been running for more than a decade and deal with events 13-28 years ago. It is common practice and indeed encouraged in litigation to seek to settle claims outside court where both parties agree without the cost of a trial.

In response to the programme, Mirror Group Newspapers said:

We welcomed the judgement in December 2023 that gave the business the necessary clarity to move forward from events that took place many years ago. Where historical wrongdoing took place, we apologise unreservedly, have taken full responsibility and paid compensation.

It’s been almost two decades since the story broke and subsequent legal actions have revealed that hacking was just the start, with victims accusing some of Britain’s biggest newspapers of tapping landlines, fitting properties with listening devices and even burglaries to order – in the name of journalism – allegations that have been strongly denied.

Tabloids On Trial, ITV1, STV, STV Player and ITVX at 9 pm tomorrow (Thursday, July 25th)