Hugh Grant urges police to investigate Sun owners

Hugh Grant has called for constabulary to unfastened a caller transgression probe into the owners of The Sun, saying the occupation is not done "by immoderate means" aft Prince Harry settled his privateness assertion connected Wednesday.

News Group Newspapers (NGN) agreed to wage "substantial damages" and apologised to the Duke of Sussex for "serious intrusion" by The Sun betwixt 1996 and 2011, and admitted "incidents of unlawful activity" were carried retired by backstage investigators moving for the newspaper.

Grant besides settled a privateness assertion against NGN successful 2024, saying helium could person faced a measure of up to £10m adjacent if helium had won.

The histrion said some incidents had shown a civilian lawsuit was "not the close instrument" to get to "the existent truth" of what happened astatine the newspaper.

Former Labour person Lord Tom Watson, who besides reached a colony with NGN connected Wednesday, said a ineligible squad would beryllium passing a dossier to the Metropolitan Police.

The unit said connected Friday determination were nary progressive investigations into allegations of telephone hacking oregon related matters.

"We await immoderate correspondence from the parties involved, which we volition respond to successful owed course," a spokesperson said.

Grant said NGN had "gamed" the civilian courts to soundlessness complainants and a transgression probe was needed.

"That's what they've done consistently implicit the past 10 years," helium told BBC Radio 4's Today programme connected Friday.

"They've spent £1bn to marque definite these things are ne'er looked astatine successful court… and you don't get due judicial findings.

"I deliberation what they're terrified of is that those findings would trigger a caller transgression inquiry."

In the civilian courts, claimants could extremity up paying the costs of their opponents if the damages grant is little than they person been offered to settee - adjacent if they win.

Grant had accused The Sun of utilizing backstage investigators to pat his telephone and burgle his house, and said helium settled due to the fact that helium could not look the imaginable costs of proceeding to trial.

NGN had denied the allegations and said the colony was reached "without admittance of liability".

The histrion called connected the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the Metropolitan Police to investigate.

The CPS told the BBC transgression investigations were matters for the police.

Grant besides argued a caller probe was needed due to the fact that radical who were astatine the insubstantial astatine the clip that backstage investigators who carried retired "unlawful activity" were instructed were inactive successful "positions of large power".

NGN apologised to Prince Harry for superior intrusion into his backstage beingness by The Sun that took spot betwixt 1996 and 2011.

The paper's exertion during portion of that time, Rebekah Brooks, is presently the CEO of News UK. She was cleared of conspiracy to hack voicemails successful a 2014 trial.

"A batch of the ft soldiers for those newspapers person present travel implicit to our side… to accidental this is awful," the histrion said.

"We've been punished, we've been to prison, we've paid fines, we've mislaid our jobs.

"But the radical who commanded each this, they're inactive there."

Meanwhile, Grant said the authorities should motorboat portion 2 of the Leveson Inquiry into property standards successful airy of the Duke of Sussex's case.

The 2012 enquiry into the culture, signifier and morals of the property was launched successful the aftermath of the telephone hacking scandal.

"This is thing that was repeatedly promised by Labour successful absorption to victims of property abuse, implicit and over.

"And present abruptly look to person disappeared from their precedence database present that they're successful government."

On Thursday, Lisa Nandy, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, ruled retired opening a 2nd signifier of the inquiry, saying it was nary longer "fit for purpose".

"A lengthy enquiry that was formulated successful a antithetic epoch earlier a batch of the cases that we've seen since originate from what happens online, which is wherever a batch of radical devour quality nowadays," Lisa Nandy told the BBC.

The BBC has contacted The Sun, News UK and the authorities for a response.