BLP partner claims against NOTW for phone hacking
updated on 05 August 2011
As reported in Legal Week, it has come to light that Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) partner Graham Shear has launched a breach of privacy claim against the News of the World (NOTW) for phone hacking. Shear brought the claim in April, having been contacted by the Metropolitan Police in January about data found about him in the files of former NOTW private investigator Glenn Mulcaire. News of his claim came out on 25 July when he issued proceedings for phone hacking against NOTW on behalf of Ashley Cole.
Shear told Legal Week: "I approached the police back in 2008 on behalf of a long list of clients seeking confirmation as to whether their names and information had appeared in the Mulcaire files following the Goodman case, for which I received negative responses. However, Operation Weeting [the Metropolitan police enquiry into phone hacking] contacted me earlier this year concerning both myself and my clients, about information that was in fact in Mulcaire's files. As a result, I have now filed a claim against NOTW for phone-hacking."
The Law Society recently expressed concern at solicitor claims that their phones may have been hacked by the paper and urged the police to investigate (see "Law Soc and SRA drawn into hacking story").
