A few days ago, Tom Sykes put a horrible spin on a legitimate rumor which was being circulated around the British media. The rumor? That the judgment would soon be released in the Mail/ANL lawsuit brought by Prince Harry, Elton John, Elizabeth Hurley and others. It took over six years for this case to even make it to trial. The trial took months and it all went down earlier this year. Harry even came to London to testify in person, as did all of the other plaintiffs. The crux of the case was that the Mail had spent years hacking, blagging, lying and accessing people’s private/confidential information to get their stories. Well, the rumor going around Fleet Street was that the judgment would be released this week. Now Reuters reports that the judgment will be released next Tuesday, the 7th. Harry is supposed to already be in the UK at the time.

Prince Harry, Elton John and five other high-profile British figures are expected to learn on Tuesday whether they have won their hugely ​expensive case against the Daily Mail’s publisher over allegations of ‌widespread unlawful behaviour.

During a 10-week trial at London’s High Court which started in January, Harry and the other claimants said dozens of stories about them published by Associated ​Newspapers in the Daily Mail and its sister title, the Mail ​on Sunday, from the 1990s to 2011 were based on information ⁠which had been obtained unlawfully.

This activity, allegedly carried out by private ​investigators on journalists’ behalf, included hacking into messages on mobile phones, tapping landlines, ​and eliciting personal information, such as medical records, by “blagging” – deceiving people into handing over confidential details.

Joining King Charles’ younger son and John in bringing the lawsuit, are the singer’s ​husband David Furnish, actors Liz Hurley and Sadie Frost, campaigner Doreen Lawrence ​and former British lawmaker Simon Hughes. Giving evidence, Mail chiefs admitted there might have been ‌some ⁠very minor unlawful data law breaches at the papers, such as obtaining phone numbers which were not publicly listed, but said they had banned any use of investigators from 2007.

This activity, allegedly carried out by private ​investigators on journalists’ behalf, included hacking into messages on mobile phones, tapping landlines, ​and eliciting personal information, such as medical records, by “blagging” – deceiving people into handing over confidential details.

Joining King Charles’ younger son and John in bringing the lawsuit, are the singer’s ​husband David Furnish, actors Liz Hurley and Sadie Frost, campaigner Doreen Lawrence ​and former British lawmaker Simon Hughes.

Giving evidence, Mail chiefs admitted there might have been ‌some ⁠very minor unlawful data law breaches at the papers, such as obtaining phone numbers which were not publicly listed, but said they had banned any use of investigators from 2007.

The ruling by judge Matthew Nicklin is expected to ​be handed down ​on July 7.

The ⁠stakes for both sides are high. The legal teams estimate the costs of the case will run into tens ​of millions of pounds, a tab which the losing ​side will ⁠mainly have to pay, while, should the claimants win, they could also expect substantial damages. Then there is the question of what defeat would mean to the ⁠reputations ​of the Duke of Sussex and the ​other well-known claimants, or to the titles – among the most widely read in the English-speaking world – ​and its senior editors and journalists.

[From Reuters]

LOL @ “among the most widely read in the English-speaking world.” That’s not a flex, it’s a travesty that the Mail is so well-read and that it sets the agenda on so many subjects. The thing to remember, just in general, is that Harry has not lost any of his lawsuits against the press. He’s only lost the lawsuits/cases where he fought for police protection in the UK – the British legal system is still designed to punish him in that area. But Harry has beaten the Mirror in court and he settled with the Sun/News Group Newspapers on the eve of the trial. The Duchess of Sussex also won her lawsuit against the Mail/ANL after they published her letter to her father in 2019. Harry and Meghan have also successfully blocked photo agencies (like X17) from selling/publishing photos of their children. My point? The British media cartel wants people to believe that Harry will be “humiliated” in court. I doubt it.

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