PRINCE HARRY AWARDED £140,600 IN PHONE HACKING CLAIM AGAINST DAILY MIRROR

Fri 15 December 2023:

The Duke of Sussex has been awarded £140,600 ($154,146) after bringing a phone hacking claim against a tabloid newspaper publisher at the High Court.

Justice Fancourt says directors “turned a blind eye and positively concealed” unlawful information gathering.

He has concluded there was “extensive” phone hacking, generally by Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) from 2006 to 2011.

The judge ruled the Duke of Sussex phone was probably hacked “to a modest extent” by the publisher.

Justice Fancourt ruled that 15 stories published about Prince Harry by MGN used unlawful information gathering methods such as phone hacking and the use of private investigators.

In all, 33 articles had been submitted for consideration, but the judge ruled fewer than half used unlawful information gathering.

The Duke of Sussex and three other claimants sued the British newspaper group, which publishes The Daily Mirror, The Sunday Mirror and Sunday People, alleging its journalists hacked his phone and used other illicit means to gather information about his life over a roughly 15-year period.

In a statement, the 39-year-old royal said “today is a great day for truth as well as accountability.”

“The court has ruled that unlawful and criminal activities were carried out at all three of Mirror Group’s newspaper titles (The Mirror, The Sunday Mirror and The People) on a habitual and widespread basis for more than a decade,” Prince Harry said.

Piers Morgan knew about phone hacking

One of the big names mentioned throughout Prince Harry’s case was Piers Morgan.

He edited the Daily Mirror for nearly 10 years from 1995 until he was fired in 2004.

In his full judgment, Justice Fancourt said he accepted the evidence of biographer Omid Scobie, who told the High Court that Mr Morgan was told about a use of phone hacking.

During the trial, Scobie told the court he did work experience at the Daily Mirror in spring 2002 and overheard Morgan being told that information relating to Kylie Minogue and her then-boyfriend James Gooding had come from voicemails.

Justice Fancourt said: “Scobie was pressed hard about the likely veracity of these accounts… I found Mr Scobie to be a straightforward and reliable witness, and I accept what he said about Morgan’s involvement in the Minogue/Gooding story.

“No evidence was called by MGN to contradict it.”

He also said Morgan has stated publicly on several occasions that he has never hacked a phone or instructed anyone to hack a phone or made use of the illegal tactic.

However, he has acknowledged he knew about the practice.

“It is therefore possible that he might have said that he told board members about it: he did talk about it in front of the then chairman at lunch,” the judge said.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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