Prince Harry’s lawsuit against the Mirror started this week. Harry is not the only one suing the Mirror Group, he is one of several plantiffs involved in this particular case, a lot like one of his lawsuits against the Mail/ANI and his lawsuit against the Sun/News Group. I know it’s hard to keep up, but this Mirror lawsuit is the one which will be happening for the next month, and Harry is expected to return to the UK in early June to testify in person. Ahead of the victims’ testimony, Mirror Group’s lawyer has admitted that there is “some evidence” that some of their reporting came from “unlawful” activity.
The publisher of the Mirror newspaper has admitted there is “some evidence” of unlawful information gathering (UIG) in relation to a High Court challenge brought by the Duke of Sussex that “warrants compensation”.
In court documents released at the start of a trial in London, Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) said it “unreservedly apologises” for instances of unlawful information gathering, which the publisher said “will never be repeated”. However the publisher denies phone hacking was used to target the Prince and is challenging claims that unlawful activity was used for 28 of the 33 articles Harry has complained about.
The Duke of Sussex is set to give evidence in the High Court during the seven-week trial, breaking a long-standing tradition that members of the Royal Family do not become personally embroiled in legal battles.
Andrew Green KC, representing MGN, said the publisher will argue news stories that Harry believes came from unlawful activity “came from information disclosed by or on behalf of Royal households or members of the Royal Family; from information and photographs sold to the newspaper by freelance journalists and news agencies, photographers and photography agencies; others from confidential sources (including sources with extensive royal contacts); prior reports in the public domain and, in one case, from an on-the-record interview given by the Duke of Sussex himself.”
Turning to details of the targeting of Harry that is admitted, Mr Green said a private investigator was instructed by a journalist at The People to unlawfully gather information about a night at the Chinawhite nightclub in February 2004. A payment of £75 was made for “Enquiries made regarding Harry & Chinawhites” in February 2004.
“It is admitted that this represented an instruction to engage in unlawful information gathering, and MGN unreservedly apologises and accepts that the Duke of Sussex is entitled to appropriate compensation for it. MGN does not know what information this related to, although it clearly had some connection with his conduct at the nightclub.”
It’s sort of a wonder that so many tabloids are even fighting Harry’s lawsuits or being so squirrelly with their admissions. I’ve read some summaries of Harry’s case against the Mirror, and much of the case rests on evidence of the Mirror’s unlawful behavior pre-Leveson Inquiry, pre-2011. I’m not saying that this would be a credible defense, but surely the Mirror’s lawyers have suggested simply wrapping everything up with “yes, we did a bunch of illegal stuff back then, which we admitted during the Leveson Inquiry, and we stopped after that, here’s a bunch of money to the victims”? Why isn’t that the defense? Probably because the Mirror (and other tabloids) didn’t magically stop their criminal behavior in 2011. The question is, does Harry have evidence of that?
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- Prince Harry departs The Royal Courts Of Justice in London, England, UK on Tuesday 28 March, 2023. He is part of a group suing the Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL) in the High Court over phone hacking allegations.,Image: 765696114, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no, Credit line: Justin Ng / Avalon
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- Prince Harry departs The Royal Courts Of Justice in London, England, UK on Tuesday 28 March, 2023. He is part of a group suing the Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL) in the High Court over phone hacking allegations.,Image: 765696129, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no, Credit line: Justin Ng / Avalon
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- Prince Harry departs The Royal Courts Of Justice in London, England, UK on Tuesday 28 March, 2023. He is part of a group suing the Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL) in the High Court over phone hacking allegations.,Image: 765696131, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no, Credit line: Justin Ng / Avalon
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- Prince Harry departs The Royal Courts Of Justice in London, England, UK on Tuesday 28 March, 2023. He is part of a group suing the Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL) in the High Court over phone hacking allegations.,Image: 765696140, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no, Credit line: Justin Ng / Avalon
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- Prince Harry arrives at The Royal Courts Of Justice in London, England, UK on Thursday 30 March, 2023. He is part of a group suing the Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL) in the High Court over phone hacking allegations.,Image: 766139758, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no, Credit line: Justin Ng / Avalon
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- Prince Harry departs The Royal Courts Of Justice in London, England, UK on Thursday 30 March, 2023. He is part of a group suing the Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL) in the High Court over phone hacking allegations.,Image: 766160550, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no, Credit line: Justin Ng / Avalon
I thought this for a while but I believe the reason the tabloids go so hard on Meghan is partly because they want to hurt Harry. Which is one of their biggest mistakes because Harry is a soldier. Should’ve left her alone. I know that family is going through it because those papers are pissed because they couldn’t stop or control Harry. Truly trapped.
Absolutely true! They know when you go after her, you hurt him.
I fear by admitting fault they are trying to avoid their big guys from taking the stand, as Harry has wanted. They maybe even trying to disrupt Harry from taking the stand and giving indepth intel on their criminal dealings. I wish, Harry’s lawsuit was more than 200,000 pounds. That’s nothing, Murdoch and those guys spend that much for a Luncheon. The amount sued for should’ve been 200 million pounds.
I believe the reason British media is so substandard and dominated by gossipy, intrusive tabloids that are compelled to deliver over the top, unethical stories is all because of BRFCo. Most of the British public seems to be blasé about the situation, willingly accepting unsourced, nonfactual, or illegally obtained stories because they either support BRFCo or can’t be bothered to fix it. Majority of Brit public seems to be fine allowing BRFCo great latitude in withholding financial and political information, while blindly accepting questionable valuations of BRFCo economic contribution. IMHO BRFCo needs shady media.
There’s lots of smoke in other areas as well, suggesting they’re trying to put out smaller fires to hide the bigger ones. They don’t want to admit to the ones they’re still using. It would destroy their whole business model. So they have to fight till the death, because admission of those things would be the death knell for their entire industry.
Exactly this. I have to believe that there is much much more evidence that implicates all of Fleet Street as well as Buckingham Palace, and nobody wants that public.
They are making leaks from BP/RF public by using it as a defence against illegal activity, LOL! Even if he doesn’t have evidence (which I doubt, otherwise it wouldn’t have been a lawsuit now), Harry has made the publicly declare that the royal houshold/royals HAVE been feeding them info about him.
Indeed this defense is bad for royal family: Some stories came from information disclosed by or on behalf of Royal households or members of the Royal Family.”
MGN’s argument that news stories “came from information disclosed by or on behalf of Royal households or members of the Royal Family” will be interesting.
Yes, that’s the part that I am most interested in, too! 🍿
I wouldn’t be mad if this is a lot of what Harry is going after. Info, the truth, expose the betrayers to the world.
Same. I can’t wait for this connection to the royal family members themselves, and their staffers, to be exposed.
They really should have listened when Harry said he wasn’t going to play the game that killed his mother.
RIGHT?!?!?! That tells you right there why the royals did not want Harry suing any of these tabloids and why they’re probably so mad right now.
If the information was not through illegal means, then the Mirror’s defense is going to have to be that it was from a legal source. Some of those palace leakers are in trouble, whoops, lol.
Win-win for Harry, would you look at that.
Keep shining the light on all these murky and illegal activities Harry, I admire him so much for this.
THAT PART. WHEWWW
Popcorn time!
@Eurodice, hell yes, make the mirror name and shame the family members (camzilla, William? And Khate)? Also make the mirror name the staff and any other sources. They have (partially admited) what they have done, so if their apology is worth ANYTHING prove it with NAMES. Then get their arses in court, so we can see just how much it is still going on
Gonna be pressure on Harry to settle ’cause they don’t want the specifics of that coming out. Ooh, this is going to be good!
You could not want better corroboration of what Harry claimed. Both UIG and RF leaking and lying are confirmed on day one of the trial. Imagine what will be exposed in 7 weeks. The Mirror is admitting to very little in order to dodge LOT! I hope Harry has a ton load of hard evidence to blow them out of the water.
So we are admitting some illegal stuff so please settle this now? I hope Harry goes full throttle and finishes this up.
It’s a feeble attempt to get him to settle. I’m betting Buckingham Palace put in a call. They want this stopped because it will implicate them as well.
I agree Snuffles they put a call in but they forget that Harry has principles and won’t settle.
@Snuffles, they put in a call alright but they are forgetting a point I made last week. William has a price tag, HARRY has a spine
They’re only admiting having information obtained illegally in a few articles, and Harry has submited many more as examples so if they’re trying to settle it’s not a good start. IMO they’re trying to minimise the damage, admiting the things they know for sure Harry and his lawyers can prove, but hopefull they’re unaware of all the proof they have of illegal activity because that’s surely the tip of the iceberg.
It’s a pretty masterful procedural move — to make claims which include instances for which the Mirror has no defense; and others in which defense requires them to reveal their palace squeakers. Even the instances with a “defense” serve Harry’s cause. I’d guess Harry has a handle on the palace sources and machinations, but forcing the Mirror into making public disclosure is far more powerful action than Harry pointing a finger. Aka, even when he loses on a specific claim, he still wins, that clever fox.
I am so here for these court cases!!! From my understanding, part of the paper’s defense will be that the palace courtier Mark Bolland leaked the information. Either way, the invisible contract will be exposed. Of course, the dream is that evidence exists of phone hacking after 2011 and it implicates Piers Morgan.
I think they’re trying to be strategic and admit this, and link it to people no longer working for the RF by saying it’s all in the past. That’s why I think last month’s trial defense was it’s too late to bring up these issues because it all happened in the past. They’re really trying to make it seem like it was something they did a decade ago but they don’t do any longer. Which we all know is absolute nonsense, what reason have they been given to stop? It’s not like the settlements put them out of business.
Well, the quote is “on behalf of” the RF and royal households – so, even if they throw certain courtiers under the bus, the responsibility goes back to the RF.
I’m struggling to keep up with the revelations. There is this. And also something about one of these tabloids claiming they got their dirt straight from Mark Bolland (Cowmilla’s spin doctor) and not from hacking. To more stuff about Piers Morgan ordering hacking.
Oooof!
@Snuffles – Like you I’m finding it difficult to keep up but, the Mark Bolland revelation really is a kick in the teeth for the new queen and I’m here for it! It’s now out there in the public domain for everyone to see. The press can mess around and manipulate headlines but, this has been evidenced in a court document.
Diana’s boy is really going to make her pay for what she did to his mother. No wonder Charles and Camilla are going on a “holiday.” WTG Harry!
I think Meghan explained in their Netflix documentary that the tabloids fight the lawsuits because they can use it to generate more content/clickbait that they continue to earn money on while the legal battle plays out. They’re reporting on the lawsuit and that in and of itself is new content that they make money on. So messed up.
True, but this litigation over old news and any new revelations that come out wouldn’t hurt Harry because he’s already spilled all in his autobiography. This only hurts them and their sources (which include the palace).
Exactly. He can’t be shamed or embarrassed because he’s laid it all out there on his terms. Love it.
Yes! Spare coming out before the court cases was a case in master execution.
They are fighting this as the illegal behaviour didn’t stop after the Leveson enquiry – that enquiry wasn’t even finished as there was supposed to be a 2nd part of to look what can be done to stop this behaviour i.e. laws etc.. And yeah I think Harry have evidence it was still going on even up until 2020/21 that was pretty much confirmed with the story of William settling.
There is more tea to come out from this that will make the RF look bad and potentially expose who the leakers were – I know it was through the previous court cases about the hacking that Jude Law found out his own brother was selling stories about him to the press.
“ I know it was through the previous court cases about the hacking that Jude Law found out his own brother was selling stories about him to the press.”
Wow. It be your own people sometimes.
Yeah, I feel that Harry strongly suspects his own family backstabbed him. Charles, Camilla and William in recent years. He’s doing this to force it out in the open.
I didn’t realize that about Jude Law, what a horrible betrayal. The worst scum sell out anyone to the tabloids, truly disgusting.
Jude law doesn’t have a brother. Just a sister, Natasha. It was a ‘close relative’ but I don’t know if they were ever publicly named. He was passed the name on a piece of paper. What a gut punch.
Ah ok – was mistaken as am sure I read somewhere that said that.
All it says in the numerous articles I’ve read is that it was a “close family relative” as well as a close friend who worked as his publicist and another aide – whose names were also kept secret – that had sold information to the paper.
There’s evidence which came out during discovery apparently. If so, it will be revealed at trial. This is why Fox settled with Dominion before the trial started. Not saying that will happen here but there’s more evidence to come.
It sounds like maybe they’re trying to settle with the admission that some compensation is warranted. But I wonder if Harry will refuse to do so because his bigger goal is to expose the entire system/invisible contract and burn it to the ground. So he’d rather go to court, expose everything, and then win a big settlement (or damages or whatever it’s called after the case is litigated).
I think Harry will take this all the way no matter how they try to entice him to settle.
the mail is really is the bottom feeder of journalism. applaud harry for trying to stand up to them. he doesn’t want to play the games that charles and william do with the media, which i think is them convinced this is the only way to co-exist with the press. they know how important appearances are, and not having the press on their side is going to hurt them more. we live in a world where information is power and appearances make or break someone.
Essentially all that f the tabloids seem to have followed the same illegal methods for obtaining information and it was hugely profitable for them to do so. Unless the risk became too great, it’s almost inconceivable that they would completely stop that illegal activity—most of the same people worked and stayed working at the DF, the Mirror, the Sun, etc. It would be great to see if Piers Morgan could be “accredited” with this in court and Harry could bring him down. As to paying and apologizing: how many victims are there who haven’t come out of thr woodwork yet?
Mirror has already thrown Mark Bolland under the bus. If the entire Palace briefing operation is exposed, I’ll be happy.
Crocmilla will have some tire tracks on her face too. It will be hard for her (and Charles) to claim no involvement with this mess. I hope this bites her crocodile hide right in the ass.
And weren’t we reading just the other day how press savvy Camilla is? This puts a definite spin on that!
I hope Harry exposes the deep symbiotic and lying relationship between the BM, courtiers and BRF . They are all a bunch of lying liars who lie.
The Windsors and Middletons are dense and heartless AF. They should realise that Harry fighting this is to protect the next generation of royals from this warped and twisted contract with tabloids! Which royal family outside of the UK engages with tabloids to this extent?! The next generation of royals will be the first to grow up in times of smart phones and instant social media. How are they going to trust anyone?
Harry doesn’t need a settlement. He’s in it to win it.
Way back when Diana was pregnant with William HMTQ called a meeting of tabloid editors and asked them to lay off because Diana was unwell. They can restrain themselves when they want or have a compelling reason.
They did the same for Boris Johnson’s baby mama. At the same time when they were actively briefing against Meghan.
I think Harry just wants it all out in the open, including the evidence of his family members selling him out. He wants to break the mold. This is costing much more than he is ever going to be awarded.
The Evening Standard flat out lied saying Harry is breaking a ‘tradition’ that royals don’t go to court over things. Charles has, William has, Kate has (as royal GF, at least), Andy has. I noticed they also managed to get their digs in at Harry saying they broke the law in order to get details on Harry’s behavior at the nightclub. And that hey, they only paid 75 pounds for it, no big.
Charles and William are displeased with Harry because these cases will expose them for using him as the scapegoat in exchange for favorable press, and Meghan becomes the sugar on top. All they had to do was apologize to Meghan and accept some accountability. Harry peered into the camera in the docuseries and said I understand why you did it. I don’t know if he was addressing William or Charles, but I believe it’s William because between them is S-P-A-C-E. I, too, wonder why he did it, and I’m confident it was to cover a dark secret.
Have you seen Omid Scobie’s evidence that he was present when Piers Morgan was asking one of his reporters if the Kylie Minogue story they had was credible and was told it came from voice mails. Omid also as a junior reporter/work experience on Piers Moron’s paper was given telephone numbers and told how to hack into voice mails. Amol Rajan has an interview out with this creep and hope he gets to grips with the real case and not let him just rant on about Harry breaking Royals ‘Privacy’ to deflect from his behaviour and links with Rebekka Brookes from way back and probably continuing. About time this Moron was shut up or given some of his own medecine of intrusion into his life as he has done to so many others.
I really want Piers Morgan to go down like the bag of effluent he is .
He really should go to jail for some of the things he has done and is still doing .
A despicable human.