Shobna awarded £117,500 in phone-hacking scandal

Shobna Gulati

OLDHAM actress Shobna Gulati is one of eight celebrity victims of phone hacking to receive a share of more than £1million in damages.

Shobna, most famous for playing Sunita in “Coronation Street”, was awarded £117,500 after her phone was hacked by Mirror Group Newspapers.

Ex-England footballer Paul Gasgoine was awarded £188,250 in damages at the High Court and actress Sadie Frost received £260,250.

Lawyers for phone-hacking victims claimed yesterday’s payouts, totalling around £1.2 million, were “unparalleled”.

Eight damages awards were announced at London’s High Court yesterday after a three-week hearing in March to determine the extent of the wrongdoing at the Mirror Group and what level of compensation was appropriate.

Mr Justice Mann also awarded £85,000 to TV executive Alan Yentob, £157,250 to actress Lucy Taggart, and £155,000 to soap star Shane Richie.

TV producer Robert Ashworth, who was married to actress Tracy Shaw, received £201,250, and flight attendant Lauren Alcorn, who had a relationship with footballer Rio Ferdinand, was awarded £72,500.

The judge said the victims had all suffered a “serious infringement of privacy” and the scale of hacking was “very substantial indeed”.

The judge’s ruling will provide a framework for resolving similar civil actions in the pipeline.

Daniel Taylor, of Taylor Hampton, solicitors who represented three of the eight victims, said: “Today’s judgement represents a milestone in the development of privacy law in the UK and the awarding of six-figure damages is truly historic and unparalleled, on a scale much greater than has ever been awarded previously.”

A Trinity Mirror plc spokesman said: “”The board is confident that the exposures arising from these historic events are manageable and do not undermine the delivery of the group’s strategy for growth.”