Prince Harry has emerged victorious in his lawsuit against the British tabloid publisher Mirror Group Newspapers over improper snooping into his personal life.
The judge found that the publisher’s papers — including The Mirror, The Sunday Mirror and The Sunday People — had engaged in “unlawful information gathering” tactics, including hacking Harry’s phone (or the phones of his associates), and intercepting his voicemails. He was awarded £140,600 in damages (about $178,000).
In a statement read by his lawyer after the ruling came down, Harry said, “Today is a great day for truth, as well as accountability. I’ve 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. The mission continues” (via The Associated Press).
The Mirror Group in its statement said the ruling “gives the business the necessary clarity to move forward from events that took place many years ago. Where historical wrongdoing took place, we apologize unreservedly, have taken full responsibility and paid appropriate compensation.”
Harry spent two days this summer testifying in court during the trial. His testimony included a 55-page written statement, in which he detailed the impact that tabloids have had on his personal life, including his romantic relationships before and after marrying Meghan Markle. He also continued to maintain his position that the tabloids were responsible for the 1997 death of his mother, Princess Diana of Wales, in a car chase.
At one point, Harry wrote in his statement, “Some editors and journalists do have blood on their hands.”
The trial centered around 33 articles, published between 1995 and 2011, which Harry’s lawyers had submitted as evidence that his phone had been hacked. Ultimately, the judge ruled that just 15 of those articles, published between 2003 and 2009, “were the product of phone hacking” or other unlawful tactics. The judge added that the evidence suggested Harry’s phone was “hacked to a modest extent, and that this was probably carefully controlled by certain people at each newspaper.”
The judge also acknowledged, and awarded Harry some damages, based on the extent to which higher-ups at Mirror Group — then known as Trinity Mirror plc — were aware of the phone hacking. The judge noted the “hurt and sense of outrage” Harry felt because two directors “knew about the illegal activity… and could and should have put a stop to it. Instead of doing so, they turned a blind eye to what was going on, and positively concealed it. Had the illegal conduct been stopped, the misuse of the Duke’s private information would have ended much sooner.”
Harry is involved in two other similar lawsuits involving tabloid publishers. One case, against the Rupert Murdoch-owned News Group Newspapers will head to trial next year, though at a hearing in July, a judge threw out the phone hacking charges because they happened outside the statute of limitations. Harry is also part of another suit against the publisher of the Daily Mail, Associated Newspapers Limited, which also includes Elton John, David Furnish, and Liz Hurley.