Glenn Mulcaire to sue News of the World over phone hacking

Ex-News of the World private investigator Glenn Mulcaire has taken legal action against its publisher News International following the phone hacking scandal.

Mulcaire is suing the media company in an attempt to get them to pay his fees, after News International announced on July 20 that it would stop paying his legal costs with immediate effect.

Mulcaire issued a high court writ claiming that News Group Newspapers - the News International subsidiary that published the News of the World until last month - are obligated to pay the cost of his high court cases.

It emerged earlier this week that News International has paid "approximately £246,000" to lawyers acting for Mulcaire.

Mulcaire is named as a defendant in numerous cases, including those being fought by Steve Coogan and Labour MP Chris Bryant, along with News Group Newspapers.

He is alleged to have routinely hacked into messages left on mobile phones on the instructions of senior figures at the News of the World .

News International confirmed that it had received the writ but had no further comment.

Mulcaire's appeal was against an order forcing him to identify who had ordered him to hack into mobile phones at the News of the World.