Actress Sienna Miller is one of several celebrities accusing the News of the World of breach of privacy Four test cases for alleged victims of phone hacking by the News of the World should go ahead later in the year, a High Court judge has said.
Mr Justice Vos said the test cases could include actress Sienna Miller and ex-Sky Sports commentator Andy Gray.
The cases could pave the way for action from some 91 alleged victims.
It comes as Scotland Yard confirmed they were considering a criminal investigation into claims journalists paid police officers for information.
The judge said the four test cases would possibly also concern interior designer Kelly Hoppen and sports agent Sky Andrew.
He said this was because the investigations were well-advanced and covered a range of issues and levels of damage.
He said the main issues were whether there was interception, how much of it went on, what was done with the information and the degree of damage suffered.
“The most important thing for the claimants is to have a guide as to what damages they may be entitled”
Mr Justice Vos
Mr Justice Vos said: “Otherwise we will be going on forever. Some people may want to but I don’t.”
He added: “At the bottom of all this is a claim for damages and the most important thing for the claimants is to have a guide as to what damages they may be entitled.”
The court also heard that actor Jude Law is expected to issue legal proceedings shortly.
Lawyers are still working out the extent of the phone hacking relating to Miss Miller, who has had an on-off relationship with Mr Law.
Mr Justice Vos said a lot of articles were written about Miss Miller in 2005-6 in the News of the World and that it was a possibility they arose from phone hacking.
It is known there are 91 alleged victims of phone hacking but it is rumoured there may be as many as 5,000.
The Metropolitan Police told the court it was currently indexing 9,200 pages of notebooks belonging to private detective Glenn Mulcaire who was jailed over phone tapping in 2007.
News International recently apologised for “voicemail interception” between 2004 and 2006 and announced it was setting up a compensation fund to deal with “justifiable claims fairly and efficiently”.
The BBC’s legal correspondent Clive Coleman said more might emerge about which victims will accept compensation under the scheme, who will fight on, and how many more are bringing civil claims.
The BBC understands News International was ready to settle claims with eight people, including former Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, her estranged husband, lawyer David Mills, Kelly Hoppen, Andy Gray, and Joan Hammell, a former aide to ex-deputy prime minister Lord Prescott.
The potential new police investigation comes after former News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks (nee Wade) told a Commons committee in 2003 that journalists “had paid police for information in the past”.
But last week Mrs Brooks denied she had any “knowledge of any specific cases”.
News International said it was not currently commenting on the matter.
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