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Reports: News International to pay millions to phone-hacking victimLONDON, Sep 19, 2011 (dpa - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- The family of a murdered British schoolgirl who was at the centre of a recent phone-hacking scandal could be in line for a payout of at least 2 million pounds (3.1 million dollars) from newspaper owners News International, it was reported Monday. Media reports in London said that the family of Milly, who was 13 when she was abducted and murdered in 2003, was close to a settlement with the group for what was described as a record sum. Revelations in July that the News of the World, a Sunday tabloid owned by Rupert Murdoch's News International, had intercepted messages left on Milly's mobile phone after she was dead, prompted a public outcry and led to a sharp escalation in the hacking scandal. Murdoch, who also owns the Times, the Sunday Times and the Sun in Britain, publicly apologized to the Dowler parents. He also closed down the 168-year old News of the World as a consequence of the scandal. The reputation of the Murdoch media empire, which spans the world but is particularly strong in Australia, the US and Britain, has suffered significantly from the scandal. The reports said News International, which is headed by James Murdoch, the empire's heir apparent, had offered 2 million pounds. But the Guardian reported that the Dowler's lawyers were asking for 3.5 million pounds. During the course of the long-running scandal, News International has paid large-scale compensation to leading celebrities and public figures, including actress Sienna Miller and the head of the Professional Footballers Association, Gordon Taylor. Miller received 100,000 pounds, and Taylor was reported to have collected 750,000 pounds in compensation deals reached in out-of-court settlements. ___ (c)2011 Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH (Hamburg, Germany) Visit Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH (Hamburg, Germany) at www.dpa.de/English.82.0.html Distributed by MCT Information Services |