Hugh Grant has settled a High Court action against the publisher of The Sun newspaper over allegations of illegal information gathering.
The 63-year-old actor was suing News Group Newspapers (NGN) alongside Prince Harry for complaints that included wiretapping, theft and “reporting” confidential information about him.
His case was one of several cases eligible for trial at London’s High Court in January, but the actor agreed to reach a settlement with NGN, said his lawyer David Sherborne.
GrantFamous for films such as “Four Weddings and a Funeral” and “Notting Hill”, he has become a prominent advocate for press reform since the phone-hacking scandal emerged more than a decade ago.
He previously filed a case against NGN in relation to the now-defunct tabloid News of the World, which was settled
in 2012, a year after the newspaper was closed by media mogul Rupert Murdoch after a public backlash.
NGN has consistently rejected allegations of any wrongdoing by staff at The Sun, having resolved more than 1,000 cases without making any admission of liability in relation to the newspaper.
Among other things, Grant claimed he was targeted using “custom heists”.
In a witness statement, he said: “My claim concerns illegal acts committed by The Sun, including contract theft, breaking and entering private property to obtain private information through wiretapping, wiretapping, phone hacking and the use of private investigators to do all these and other illegal things against me.”
Amid news last year that Grant’s claim would be tried in the High Court, it was reported that the actor gave the same evidence he gave to the Leveson Inquiry into press standards and ethics in 2011.
At that time he had spoken about a break-in at his London flat where the front door was ripped off its hinges and a story appeared shortly afterwards in The Sun which “detailed the interior”.
NGN has previously denied any illegal activity at The Sun.
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Harry’s claim is currently scheduled to go to trial in January 2025.
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