Actress Elizabeth Hurley awarded phone-hacking damages

Elizabeth Hurley has received "substantial" damages and an apology from Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) over phone-hacking.

The 51-year-old actress's lawyer said she had donated the sum to campaign group Hacked Off "to assist other victims of the press".

The model is one of a number of celebrities to settle claims against MGN over the last two months.

She did not attend the brief hearing at London's High Court on Wednesday.

'Voyeuristic interest'

Dr Evan Harris, joint executive director of Hacked Off, said: "[We are] extremely grateful to Elizabeth Hurley for her generous donation.

"There are hundreds of victims of phone hacking and press abuse.

"Ms Hurley's very generous donation will fund our work to support and campaign on their behalf."

Ms Hurley's lawyer said that the actress believed MGN's interest in her pregnancy in 2002 was "voyeuristic"

The actress was pursuing damages over 58 separate articles published by the media group in 1998 and 2007.

Her lawyer Anjlee Saigol said "it was MGN's relentless, voyeuristic interest in her pregnancy between 2001 and 2002 that she still recalled with particular anger and horror so many years later.

"During this period, MGN's journalists published a stream of articles about her, each detailing the clearly sensitive circumstances of her pregnancy."

(L-R) Kevin Keegan, Patsy Kensit, Lord Archer, Michelle Collins, Joe Swash, and Denise Van Outen received damages from Mirror Group Newspapers in April

In April Lord Jeffrey Archer and his wife Dame Mary Archer, football manager Kevin Keegan, actress Patsy Kensit, and singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor were among 44 people to settle claims against the newspaper group.

Some settlements are thought to exceed £300,000, which is more than record damages awarded to Sadie Frost in 2015.

It is believed that about 50 people are still pursuing claims against MGN.

Phone hacking was a technique used to listen to people's mobile voicemail. Journalists were able to access private information and use it for stories.