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LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry He said on Friday that his “mission” to control the British media continues, after he accepted costs and damages from a tabloid editor who invaded his privacy with phone hacking and other illegal spying.
Harry’s lawyer, David Sherborne, told a court hearing that Mirror Group Newspapers had agreed to pay all of Harry’s legal costs, plus “substantial” damages, and would make an interim payment of 400,000 pounds ($505,000) within 14 days. . The final tab will be evaluated later.
The prince said he had been vindicated and promised: “Our mission continues.”
“We have uncovered and demonstrated the shockingly dishonest way in which the Mirror acted for so many years, and then tried to hide the truth,” Harry said in a statement read outside London’s High Court by his lawyer.
Harry was awarded 140,000 pounds ($177,000) in damages in December after a judge ruled that Phone hacking was “widespread and common” at Mirror Group Newspapers in the late 1990s, went on for more than a decade and was covered up by newspaper executives. Judge Timothy Fancourt determined that Harry’s phone was hacked “to a modest extent.”
The settlement avoids new lawsuits over 115 more tabloid articles that Harry claims were the product of hacking or other intrusions.
Mirror Group said in a statement that it was “pleased to have reached this agreement, which gives our business greater clarity moving forward regarding events that took place many years ago and for which we have apologised.”
Harry’s case against the editor of the Daily Mirror and two other tabloids is one of several he has launched in a campaign against the British media, which he blames for ruining his life and harassing both his late mother, Princess Diana, and to his wife Meghan.
In June, he became the first senior member of the royal family. testify in court in more than a century during the trial of his case against the Mirror.
Harry, also known as the Duke of Sussex, was not present in court for Friday’s ruling. He He traveled to London from his home in California earlier this week to visit his father, King Charles III, who has been diagnosed with cancer. Harry flew back to the United States about 24 hours later.
Harry still has ongoing cases against the editors of The Sun and Daily Mail over allegations of illegal spying. the recently dropped a defamation case against the editor of the Mail following an unfavorable pre-trial ruling.
At Friday’s hearing, the judge ordered Mirror Group to pay some of the legal costs of three other claimants whose cases were heard alongside Harry’s.
Fancourt said that “all plaintiffs have been vindicated” by the court’s findings about the Mirror Group’s misconduct, and that legal costs had been increased by the publisher’s “attempts to conceal the truth.”
He ordered the publisher to pay the “common costs” of a general case that seeks to demonstrate irregularities on the part of the company. This is separate from the legal costs of preparing and filing individual-specific claims.
The judge said the other three plaintiffs must pay part of the Mirror Group’s costs in their individual cases because they made exaggerated claims or did not accept reasonable offers to settle.
The judge ruled in December that the four plaintiffs’ privacy had been violated, but dismissed cases brought by actress Nikki Sanderson and Fiona Wightman, the ex-wife of comedian Paul Whitehouse, because they were filed too late. A claim by actor Michael Turner was partially successful.
Phone hacking by British newspapers dates back more than two decades, when journalists eager for scoops regularly called the numbers of royals, celebrities, politicians and sports stars and, when asked to leave a message, They entered predetermined passwords to eavesdrop on voice messages.
The practice erupted into a full-blown scandal in 2011, when it was revealed that Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World had intercepted messages from a murdered girl, relatives of dead soldiers and bombing victims. Murdoch closed the paper and a former News of the World editor was jailed.
It was later discovered that the newspapers had used other intrusive means, such as telephone tapping, home tapping and obtaining details of medical records through deception.
Mirror Group Newspapers said it has paid out more than 100 million pounds ($127 million) in phone hacking claims over the years, but denied any wrongdoing in Harry’s case. He said he used legitimate reporting methods to obtain information about the prince.
Harry hit out at former Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan, who denies knowing about phone hacking when he was at the newspaper. Morgan is a strong critic of Harry and Meghan.
In his statement, Harry said Morgan “knew exactly what was going on.”
“His contempt for the court’s ruling and his continued attacks since then demonstrate why it was so important to obtain a clear and detailed ruling,” the prince said.