Trinity Mirror admits liability in four cases of phone-hacking

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LONDON, Sept 24 (Reuters) - British newspaper group Trinity Mirror, which publishes the Daily Mirror tabloid, admitted liability over hacking the phones of four people and said it would pay compensation, without detailing how much.

Britain's newspaper industry was rocked in 2011 by the closure of Rupert Murdoch's best-selling News of the World, after revelations some staff had regularly hacked into phone messages to generate scoops.

In February, police questioned the Mirror's former editor, Piers Morgan, one of the biggest names in British media and a former judge on the "America's Got Talent" show.

Trinity Mirror (LSE: TNI.L - news) said in a statement on Wednesday that it admitted liability to four individuals who had sued it over alleged phone-hacking carried out "many years ago", and settled six other claims for agreed sums.

It said the steps it had taken "were within those contemplated" in July, when it announced it had set aside 4 million pounds ($6.56 million) over the first six months of the year for covering the cost of dealing with and resolving claims.

It warned at that time of the uncertainty posed by the claims against it and their financial impact.

The level of compensation for the four cases in which it admitted liability will be assessed by the court if it cannot be agreed, said Trinity Mirror, adding that it had apologised to the individuals.

In addition to the civil claims against the Mirror titles, British police last September started investigating whether the publisher was criminally liable for alleged phone-hacking by former journalists. It is also co-operating with police over a probe into alleged inappropriate payments to public officials.

Dozens of journalists, nearly all from Murdoch's tabloids, are still awaiting trial over alleged offences arising from the huge police investigation into phone-hacking.

An eight-month trial into hacking featuring some of the most high-profile names involved in the scandal ended in June, having shaken the British political establishment and forcing an apology from the Prime Minister for hiring former News of the World journalist Andy Coulson.

He was convicted of conspiracy to intercept messages. Rebekah Brooks, the former boss of Murdoch's British newspaper arm, was acquitted.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in Trinity Mirror traded up 0.2 percent at 181.5 pence at 0906 GMT, outperforming Britain's midcap index which was 0.4 percent lower. (Reporting by Sarah Young; editing by Stephen Addison)