The sports broadcaster Andy Gray has accepted a payout from the News of the World (Image: Fiona Hanson, PA)

The sports broadcaster Andy Gray has become the second public figure in the past month to reach a settlement with the News of the World over phone hacking, accepting a £20,000 ($A31,000) payout from the British tabloid.

Gray, who currently works as a presenter for the TalkSport radio station, took legal action against the News of the World after it was revealed that his mobile phone number, password and PIN had been found in the diary of the private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, who has been convicted of hacking phones for the newspaper.

News Group Newspapers (NGN) said on Tuesday afternoon that Gray had accepted £20,000 in damages plus legal costs.

The broadcaster's case was one of eight in which the publisher had previously admitted liability over the illegal interception of their phone messages, and had been earmarked as a "test case" that would have begun in January next year.

John Kelly, a partner at the legal firm that represented Gray, said that the decision by NGN to accept the allegations of wrongdoing represented a notable victory.

"Andy was forced to issue legal proceedings and had to fight tooth and nail to establish that he had been the victim of unlawful phone hacking," he said.

"The News of the World finally threw in the towel in April when it admitted liability for the unlawful interception of Andy's voicemail."

The actor Sienna Miller was the first of the litigants to accept NGN's offer of an apology and compensation. Her lawyers confirmed in May that she would accept £100,000 in damages; the deal was formalised earlier this month.

Separately, NGN last week announced that it had appointed Sir Charles Gray, a former judge, to oversee its compensation scheme. The scheme is designed to prevent cases from going to court, where potentially damaging revelations about the newspaper's activities could come to light.

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