Mr Justice Fancourt said the unlawful activity was “concealed” from Parliament, shareholders and the public, as well as the board overseeing MGN.
In his summary of the ruling, the judge said: “The board as a whole was not told about it.
“That was because the editors of the three newspapers, the editorial managers of the company and [chief executive officer Sly] Bailey and [group legal director Paul] Vickers did not report what they knew, or suspected, to the board.
“The likelihood of extensive illegal activity should have been investigated properly by Ms Bailey and Mr Vickers, at the latest in early 2007, but it never was.
“Instead, it was concealed from the board, from Parliament in 2007 and 2011, from the Leveson Inquiry, from shareholders, and from the public for years, and the extent of it was concealed from claimants in the Mirror Newspapers hacking litigation and even from the court at and before the trial in 2015.
“The company’s in-house lawyers knew about the use of phone hacking and extensive unlawful information-gathering because of their involvement in ‘legalling’ articles for publication.”
Mr Justice Fancourt found the chairmen up to 2012, Sir Victor Blank and Sir Ian Gibson, finance director Vijay Vaghela and former board member Stephen Parker “did not know about phone hacking or the extent of the use of private investigators to conduct unlawful information gathering, and that the non-executive directors did not know either”.
William Turner is a seasoned U.K. correspondent with a deep understanding of domestic affairs. With a passion for British politics and culture, he provides insightful analysis and comprehensive coverage of events within the United Kingdom.
