The Metropolitan Police Service today accepted at the High Court that its failure in 2006 and 2007 to warn victims and potential victims of phone hacking was unlawful.
News of the acceptance that it had "breached a legal obligation" came as two judges in London heard that a number of claimants - including former deputy prime minister Lord Prescott - had settled judicial review proceedings brought against the Met over "failures to warn victims".
Lord Justice Gross and Mr Justice Irwin were told that the two sides had reached agreement by Hugh Tomlinson QC, representing Lord Prescott, ex Met Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Brian Paddick, actor Jude Law's personal assistant Ben Jackson, MP Chris Bryant and an anonymous individual known as HJK.
Mr Tomlinson said the claimants and the Met had agreed a "declaration" - in which the Met admits it breached its duties under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Lord Prescott was in court for the proceedings.
Law firm Bindmans, for the claimants, said in a statement that the declaration "constitutes an admission by the police that their failure to warn victims that their privacy was or may have been unlawfully invaded was a breach of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights".
That article provides that "everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence".
Lord Prescott said in a statement: "It's taken me 19 months to finally get justice.
"Time and time again I was told by the Metropolitan Police that I had not been targeted by Rupert Murdoch's News of the World.
"But I refused to accept this was the case. Thanks to this judicial review, the Metropolitan Police has finally apologised for its failure to inform victims of the criminal acts committed by the News of the World against myself and hundreds of other victims of phone hacking."
Meanwhile, a fast-track scheme for people to establish whether they were named in the so-called Motorman files linking journalists to the purchase of personal details has been set up by the information watchdog.
Details relating to some 4,000 names were discovered in several files when the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) raided the Hampshire home of private detective Steve Whittamore in March 2003.
The watchdog launched a fast-track service today "to speed up the process for those wanting to find out whether anything is recorded about them".