A bid to establish whether the Sun was involved in phone hacking has been launched at a hearing dealing with allegations from 16 celebrities and public figures against the newspaper’s publisher, News Group Newspapers.

The high court heard that of the 16 claimants, who include former EastEnders and Coronation Street actors, five allege that articles published in the Sun were obtained by the hacking of phones. The others say they were targeted by the now defunct News of the World.

The claims presented in court include examples provided by Simon Clegg, the former chief executive of the British Olympic Association, who says around half of the articles he alleges were obtained through phone hacking were published in the Sun.



Lawyers for NGN say the stories about Clegg, who led the campaign to persuade the government to bid for the 2012 Olympics, were sourced through legitimate means.

Other celebrities who are part of the case against the two newspapers include the former FamilyFortunes presenter Les Dennis, Hear’Say singer and Coronation Street actor Kym Marsh and Doctors actor Sarah Manners.



Documents laid before the court include allegations that phone hacking took place at the Sun from at least 2000 onwards and cite examples up to 2006, when the NoW royal editor Clive Goodman and the private investigator Glenn Mulcaire were arrested for intercepting voicemails.

The claimants are seeking disclosure of records from the Sun, similar to those produced by News UK for NoW.



Anthony White QC, representing NGN, said the defendant should be given more time to present an argument against the disclosure, saying a “similar regime” at the News of the World had generated costs of £13m. “If we have to put in place a disclosure regime for the Sun going back to 1998, we would have to do so from scratch,” he said.





A decision on whether the claims against the Sun can proceed to trial will be delayed until a later hearing before April.

Lawyers for those making claims against NoW said that stories produced by the paper’s features section were the work of more than one individual.

The hearing comes more than a year after the former Sun editor Rebekah Brooks was cleared of all charges related to phone hacking at NoW. Brooks has since returned to become chief executive of the paper’s parent company, News UK.

A spokesperson for News UK said: “Following many years of investigation, there were no charges against the Sun or its employees for voicemail interception. Today, certain claimants seeking financial settlements arising from activities at the News of the World have made unsubstantiated claims against the Sun. If the court permits such claims to proceed, the Sun will defend them vigorously.”

