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Ciara Parkes v NGN – Statement in Open Court
Thomson Heath Jenkins & Associates is pleased to announce that Ciara Parkes has successfully settled her privacy claim against Newsgroup Newspapers Limited in relation to unlawful information gathering by the Sun newspaper.
The Statement in Open Court was read today in the High Court before Mr Justice Fancourt, the Managing Judge in the phone-hacking litigation – The statement is available here.
Ciara Parkes was represented by Mark Thomson, Emily Jenkins, Chloe Vincent, Isabella Ritchie and Olivia Biggin.
Following the settlement and today’s reading in Court, Ciara Parkes had this to say regarding the resolution of her claim:
The Statement in Open Court read today by my lawyers is the conclusion to my long running litigation against News Group Newspapers. I would have loved to have been there today but unfortunately, I could not make it to court today because I am on business in the US.
I first brought my claim in 2022, alleging serious intrusions of privacy, unlawful information gathering and voicemail interception by journalists at The Sun, including using private investigators to unlawfully obtain private information about my friends and business associates.
NGN denied that I had been targeted or subject to unlawful activities and denied that private information about me had been obtained through such activities. As a result of their outright denials and their concealments, I will never know the true extent of the illegal targeting of myself and my close friends and clients.
I have worked closely with the main UK newspaper groups for 35 years and have many colleagues and friends who are talented, decent and honourable people. It is a national disgrace that such shocking and illegal behaviour took place for such a long time and which impacted the lives of hundreds, if not thousands, of people.
However, after over two years of highly stressful legal proceedings, in light of the confidential settlement and the statement read today, I feel completely vindicated in bringing my claim.
Ciara Parkes
Chief Executive, Public Eye Communications
Today’s settlement has been widely reported in the following articles:
For more information, please contact us here.
