The Met found to have acted unlawfully in not informing people that their phones had been hacked
A judicial review has ruled that the Metropolitan Police should have warned people they were the victims of phone hacking by the News of the World – and that failure was unlawful.
Former deputy Prime Minister Lord Prescott, Labour MP Chris Bryant, ex-Scotland Yard deputy assistant commissioner Brian Paddick and two others victims had pursued a review.
BBC News reports that the men, some of whom received payouts from News International, argued their human rights had been breached. Prescott received £40,000, and Bryant have already been awarded £30,000 by News international.
The long-running case concerned the lawfulness of the original 2006 police investigation into phone hacking, and the failure to notify victims, explained BBC News.
It quoted Prescott as saying: "It's taken me 19 months to finally get justice. Time and again I was told by the Metropolitan Police that I had not been targeted by Rupert Murdoch's News of the World. But I refused to accept this was the case.
"Thanks to this judicial review, the Metropolitan Police has finally apologised for its failure to properly investigate, and inform victims, of the criminal acts of phone hacking committed by the News of the World."
BBC legal correspondent Clive Coleman said the order represents a defeat for the Metropolitan police, and an admission that there were flaws in the initial 2006 investigation in failing to notify potential victims of phone hacking.