News of the World's last issue (Credit: Wikipedia)

News Group Newspapers, the publisher of the now-defunct News of the World, recently settled a phone hacking claim from Heather Mills, the ex-wife of Paul McCartney.

The news publisher apologized in open court to Mills and her sister Fiona Mills, admitting News of the World invaded their privacy, the Associated Press reported. The hacking occurred between 1998 and 2008, CNN reported, but News Group Newspapers didn’t “admit liability related to…the Sun.”

News Group Newspapers settled about 90 phone hacking cases “recently,” according to the Guardian. iMediaEthics has written to Mills’ attorney for more information; we’ve also contacted News Corp. to ask about the recent settlements.

“My motivation to win this decade-long fight stemmed from a desire to obtain justice, not only for my family, my charities and myself, but for the thousands of innocent members of the public who, like me, have suffered similar ignominious, criminal treatment at the hands of one of the world’s most powerful media groups,” the AP quoted Heather Mills as saying.

Mills also called it the “highest media libel settlement in British legal history,” the BBC reported, but noted that “her case was a privacy rather than a libel, claim.”