– Harriet Harman, Deputy Labour LeaderThe news that four phone hacking cases have been lodged at the High Court against Mirror Group Newspapers raises the troubling possibility that hacking went beyond News International.
It is important that allegations of phone hacking or other criminality in any news organisation are taken seriously.
Former Blackburn Rovers footballer, Garry Flitcroft, is one of four people who are taking legal action against Mirror Group Newspapers for alleged phone hacking.
In November, Flitcroft told the Leveson Inquiry that he had previously been hounded by tabloid media in 2001 over an extra-marital affair.
As news emerged that four people have issued hacking claims against Mirror Group Newspapers, its owner Trinity Mirror's shares fell 12% today, reversing some of the recent strong gains for the stock.
Shares in the group were down 12 percent at 63 pence at 0725 GMT, according to Reuters.
Johnathan Barrett, an analyst at N+1 Singer, said:
The shares have been very strong and buoyed by an improved nationals advertising market and the likelihood of greater cost savings in 2013.
The claims will weigh on the shares, in part because many had assumed the subject was fading away as an issue.
Former England football manager Sven-Göran Eriksson – has filed a claim alleging phone hacking at the Daily Mirror during Piers Morgan's editorship.
Mr Morgan, now a CNN talk-show host in the United States, has repeatedly denied any involvement in phone hacking.
Mr Morgan’s spokesman referred the Financial Times to the newspaper's publisher Trinity Mirror for comment.
In December, he told the Leveson Inquiry he was not aware of any phone hacking taking place at the paper while he was in charge.
Four people have issued High Court claims against the Daily and Sunday Mirror and The People.
The claims allege "breach of confidence and misuse of private information" relating to the "interception and/or misuse of mobile phone voicemail messages and/or the interception of telephone account".
The Financial Times reports that no particulars of the claims have been filed as yet.
The four claimants, represented by media lawyer Mark Lewis, who also represented other celebrities and claimants in action taken against News International, have four months to serve claims on Trinity Mirror, the newspaper said.
Four people - including former England football manager Sven-Goran Eriksson - are taking action against the publishers of the Daily Mirror over alleged phone hacking.
Trinity Mirror, which owns Mirror Group Newspaper, told the Financial Times (£):
We have no comment, we are unaware action has been taken at the High Court.
Mark Lewis, who is representing the four alleged victims of hacking by the Daily Mirror, has told Daybreak that he doesn't understand how the hacking allegations have taken the Mirror Group 'by surprise'.
Mark Lewis who represents the alleged victims of phone hacking told Daybreak the hacking allegations appeared to take the Mirror Group 'by surprise'.
– Mark Lewis, LawyerThere is evidence which is going to be put forward. This is the very start of a claim and allegations are going to be put forward... The Mirror Group might say they don't know but the allegations for example against Sven Goran Eriksson have been made public... There has always been a continual mantra [by the Mirror Group] by saying 'we always comply with criminal law and have always complied with the Press Complaints Commission code'. The courts will investigate the evidence.
Four people are taking action against the publishers of the Daily Mirror over alleged phone hacking, it has emerged.
Read the full storyNewspaper publisher Trinity Mirror is facing legal challenges over phone-hacking allegations for the first time, according to reports.
The allegations relate to newspapers in the Mirror Group Newspapers stable - the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and The People.
The claims allege breach of confidence and misuse of private information relating to the interception and/or misuse of mobile phone voicemail messages and/or the interception of telephone accounts.
It is thought to be the first time that actions over alleged phone hacking have been launched against newspapers outside Rupert Murdoch's News International.
