News of the World registry. In 2006, reporters at the paper used private investigators to illegally gain access to hundreds of mobile phone voicemail accounts held by a variety of people of interest to the newspaper. In 2007 the paper's royal correspondent, Clive Goodman, pleaded guilty to illegal interception of personal communication and was jailed for four months; the paper's editor, Andy Coulson, had resigned two weeks earlier. In 2009/2010, further revelations emerged on the extent of the phone hacking, and how it was common knowledge within the "News of the World" and its News International parent. According to a former reporter at the
News media phone hacking scandal and politicians filed for breach of privacy against News of the World alone. As of early October 2011, there were reportedly 63 civil suits directed at News International relating to the phone hacking scandal. Noting that there might be many more cases initiated over phone hacking, high court judge Mr Justice Vos selected test cases that "would enable him to decide the damages that were properly payable across a range of alleged factual situations, and make it possible for other cases to be resolved without the need for further hearings." He added that the trial would cover the issues of