Hugh Grant wins ‘substantial’ damages against the News of the World

Hugh Grant said he would donate the damages to the Hacked Off campaign (Getty Images)

The actor Hugh Grant has become the latest victim of phone hacking to settle his damages claim against the News of the World.

The Hollywood star, one of the most prominent voices in the campaign for tighter regulation to curb the excesses of the press, said he would donate his "substantial" damages to Hacked Off, the lobby group of which he is a board member.

Grant, a longstanding object of tabloid fascination, filed his claim against News Group Newspapers, the publisher of the defunct Sunday paper, in September along with a raft of other celebrities including Cherie Blair and Wayne Rooney.

In a statement, his solicitor Mark Thomson said: "News Group Newspapers have agreed to pay him a substantial sum by way of damages. He has instructed us to donate all of his damages plus an additional payment from him to the Hacked Off Campaign for a free and accountable media."

Grant last week vowed to continue campaigning until the 2015 election to prevent what he claims is a "cosy stitch-up" between the Government and the newspaper industry to set up a new system of regulation without statutory backing.