Prince Harry privacy case: ‘Extensive’ phone hacking by Mirror Group newspapers was carried out
“Extensive” phone hacking by the Mirror Group newspapers was carried out from 2006 to 2011, a High Court judge has ruled after a privacy case brought by Prince Harry.
Judge Mr Justice Fancourt said that “even to some extent”, the phone hacking continued during the Leveson Inquiry into media standards.
The Duke of Sussex’s case has been “proved in part”, with 15 of the 33 articles presented in court found to be the product of phone hacking or other unlawful information gathering, the judge ruled.
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He went on to say the Duke’s phone was probably only hacked to a modest extent and was “carefully controlled by certain people” from the end of 2003 to April 2009.
But the judge added there was a tendency by the Duke to assume everything was a result of hacking.
The judge awarded Prince Harry a total sum of £140,600. The sum was aggregated as directors of the newspaper group knew and “turned a blind eye and positively concealed it”.
In a statement read by his lawyer David Sherborne, Prince Harry said: “This case is not just about hacking, it is about a systemic practice of unlawful and appalling behaviour, followed by coverups and destruction of evidence.”
The court found that within Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), principle board directors, senior executives and editors “such as Piers Morgan clearly knew about or were involved in these illegal activities,” he said.
David Sherborne reads a statement, on behalf of the Duke of Sussex, outside court
“Between them, they even went as far as lying under oath to parliament during the Leveson inquiry, to the stock exchange, and to us all ever since.”
Since the claim was brought, the prince said: “Defamatory stories and intimidating tactics have been deployed against me and at my family’s expense.”
“I am happy to have won the case, especially as this trial only looked at a quarter of my entire claim.”
The prince called on the stock market and the police to “do their duty” and investigate bringing charges against the company and those who have broken the law.
“Today’s ruling is vindicating and affirming. I have been told that slaying dragons will get you burned, but in light of today’s victory and the importance of doing what is needed for a free and honest press, it is a worthwhile price to pay.”
Coronation Street actor awarded damages
Meanwhile, Coronation Street actor Michael Le Vell was awarded £31,650 in damages after the judge found four out of the 27 articles presented to court were the product of phone hacking or unlawful information gathering.
Mr Justice Fancourt said the claims of soap actress Nikki Sanderson and the ex-wife of comedian Paul Whitehouse, Fiona Wightman, are barred because times for their claims have expired.
But he found that nine articles relating to Ms Sanderson and one article related to Ms Wightman were the product of unlawful information gathering.
The judge found there was “some unlawful activity” at the newspaper group in 1995, and “widespread” unlawful information gathering from 1996.
The practice was “widespread and habitual” from 1998 onwards, the judge said, while phone hacking “remained an important tool in the climate of journalism” at all three papers – the Daily Mirror, the Sunday Mirror and Sunday People – from 2006 to 2011.
But phone hacking and unlawful information gathering were then done “in a more controlled way” and not as habitually as before 2006.
Private investigators ‘integral part’ of Mirror newspapers
Unlawful information gathering involving private investigators hired by MGN “reduced in amount” between 2006 and 2011 but “remained extensive” throughout the whole period.
Some 11 private investigators – out of 51 complained about in the case – were used “very substantially” by journalists and editors and an “integral part of the system” that existed at the three papers.
Another 13 did a “significant amount” of unlawful information gathering while five did “some work” that appears to have involved in unlawful gathering.
There was “no sufficient evidence” for 14 of the private investigators in this case while ten others who were based abroad would have been breaking the law in England and Wales, but can’t have findings made about them because it was outside the jurisdiction.
Two directors knew about phone hacking
Meanwhile, two directors at MGN – Paul Vickers and Sly Bailey – knew about phone hacking but they did not inform the rest of the board, the judge found.
“It was concealed from the board, Parliament, the public, the Leveson Inquiry,” the judge said.
A spokesperson for MGN said: “We welcome today’s judgment that gives the business the necessary clarity to move forward from events that took place many years ago.
“Where historical wrongdoing took place, we apologise unreservedly, have taken full responsibility and paid appropriate compensation.”
The Duke of Sussex sued MGN for damages, claiming journalists at its titles were linked to controversial methods including phone hacking, so-called “blagging” and the use of private investigators for unlawful activities.
The civil trial at the High Court ended in June after seven weeks and saw the duke appear in the witness box – the first time a senior royal has given evidence in a courtroom since the 19th Century.
His lawyer David Sherborne told the court unlawful information gathering against the duke began in January 1996 when he was 11 years old.
Mr Sherborne said the 33 articles which form Harry’s case are just a fraction of the 2,500 the royal identified as being published about him between 1996 and 2009.
MGN contested the claims and either denied or not admitted to each of them. The publisher also argued that some of the claimants have brought their legal action too late.
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Glasgow has been a city crying out for solutions to a devastating drugs epidemic that is ravaging people hooked on deadly narcotics.
We have spent time with vulnerable addicts in recent months and witnessed first-hand the dirty, dangerous street corners and back alleys where they would inject their £10 heroin hit, not knowing – or, in many cases, not caring – whether that would be the moment they die.
“Dying would be better than this life,” one man told me.
It was a grim insight into the daily reality of life in the capital of Europe’s drug death crisis.
Scotland has a stubborn addiction to substances spanning generations. Politicians of all persuasions have failed to properly get a grip of the emergency.
But there is a new concept in town.
From Monday, a taxpayer-funded unit is allowing addicts to bring their own heroin and cocaine and inject it while NHS medical teams supervise.
It may be a UK-first but it is a regular feature in some other major European cities that have claimed high success rates in saving lives.
Glasgow has looked on with envy at these other models.
One supermarket car park less than a hundred metres from this new facility is a perfect illustration of the problem. An area littered with dirty needles and paraphernalia. A minefield where one wrong step risks contracting a nasty disease.
Drugs paraphernalia in a supermarket car park in Glasgow, near the new facility
It is estimated hundreds of users inject heroin in public places in Glasgow every week. HIV has been rife.
The new building, which will be open from 9am until 9pm 365 days a year, includes bays where clean needles are provided as part of a persuasive tactic to lure addicts indoors in a controlled environment.
There is a welcome area where people will check in before being invited into one of eight bays. The room is clinical, covered in mirrors, with a row of small medical bins.
Clean needles are provided to lure addicts to inject in a controlled environment
There are eight bays users can inject in
We were shown the aftercare area where users will relax after their hit in the company of housing and social workers.
The idea is controversial and not cheap – £2.3m has been ring-fenced every year.
The aftercare area
Read more: ‘Dying would be better than my £1,000 a month heroin addiction’
Authorities in the city first floated a ‘safer drug consumption room’ in 2016. It failed to get off the ground as the UK Home Office under the Conservatives said they would not allow people to break the law to feed habits.
The usual wrangle between Edinburgh and London continued for years with Downing Street suggesting Scotland could, if it wanted, use its discretion to allow these injecting rooms to go ahead.
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The stalemate ended when Scotland’s most senior prosecutor issued a landmark decision that it would not be in the public interest to arrest those using such a facility.
One expert has told me this new concept is unlikely to lead to an overall reduction in deaths across Scotland. Another described it as an expensive vanity project. Supporters clearly disagree.
The question is what does success look like?
The big test will be if there is a spike in crime around the building and how it will work alongside law enforcement given drug dealers know exactly where to find their clients now.
It is not disputed this is a radical approach – and other cities across Britain will be watching closely.
Temperatures in northern parts of the UK could fall as low as minus 20C on Friday night as wintry weather continues, the Met Office has said.
There are yellow warnings for ice on Friday morning covering the eastern coast of England and Scotland, the South West, Wales and Northern Ireland.
There is also a yellow warning for snow and ice for northern Scotland. All the warnings expire before midday.
In addition, freezing fog is predicted across central and southeast England, and in parts of Wales, which may be “quite stubborn to clear” on Friday morning, said Met Office meteorologist Liam Eslick.
“It’s going to be another cold couple of days,” he added, and all areas of the UK are likely to experience sub-zero temperatures.
St Andrew’s church at Kiln Pit in Durham. Pic: PA
Friday night may bring the coldest temperatures of the current cold snap, with temperatures possibly plummeting as low as minus 15C or even minus 20C.
“That’s probably the lowest limits we’re expecting,” Mr Eslick said.
“We probably don’t really expect many places to get close to minus 20C, but we could see one or two places that could just touch that mark overnight Friday into Saturday.”
That is because of still conditions, high pressure, “not a lot of wind and clear skies”.
In addition, snow on the ground helps to create “sort of a perfect scenario to see those temperatures just plummet”, Mr Eslick added.
Saturday is also likely to be bitterly cold, while Sunday is forecast to be a little warmer.
On Monday, temperatures are expected to be more in line with the seasonal norm, at about seven or eight degrees Celcius.
A woman feeds ducks in a frosty High Wycombe. Pic: PA
Read more:
Ticket re-sales could be capped under crackdown on touts
First taxpayer-funded injection room to tackle drugs epidemic
The freezing conditions have led to travel disruption, with Manchester Airport closing both its runways on Thursday morning because of “significant levels of snow”. They were later reopened.
Transport for Wales closed some railway lines because of damage to tracks.
Hundreds of schools in Scotland and about 90 in Wales were shut on Thursday.
Meanwhile, staff and customers at a pub thought to be Britain’s highest were finally able to leave on Thursday after being snowed in.
The Tan Hill Inn in Richmond, North Yorkshire, is 1,732 feet (528m) above sea level.
Six staff and 23 visitors were stuck, the pub said on Facebook.
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