Prince Harry ends four-year legal battle against publisher of the Mirror by accepting ‘substantial sum’ in phone hacking case
Prince Harry has ended his four-year legal battle against the publisher of the Mirror by accepting a ‘substantial’ sum of money.
The High Court was told that Mirror Group Newspapers had also agreed to pay all of the Duke of Sussex’s costs in last year’s hacking trial.
Last year the Duke became the first royal in more than a hundred years to take the witness box at the High Court.
He was the most high-profile of the four plaintiffs who accused Mirror Group Newspapers of hacking them for news stories.
After the seven-week trial last summer, Harry was awarded £140,600 by the judge. In his landmark ruling in December, Judge Fancourt concluded that 15 of the 33 articles about Harry came from hacking.
The Duke of Sussex arrives at the High Court in London to testify on June 7 last year
But he also threw out the remaining 17 articles in the duke’s claims, labeling one of them as ‘hopeless’. And those 33 were just a ‘sample’ of a total of 148 articles that Harry had complained about.
A second trial had been proposed to consider the remaining 115 articles he claimed were from hacking. But today it was announced that an amicable settlement had been reached.
Harry’s lawyer David Sherborne told Judge Fancourt: ‘MGN has accepted the Duke’s offer.
MGN will pay a significant additional amount in damages and, secondarily, all costs of its claim.” The ‘additional amount’ was not specified but will be added to the £140,600.
The legal costs that the newspaper group will have to pay to Harry’s lawyers are likely to be substantially higher.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, pictured outside Canada House in London in January 2020
The court heard that the newspaper had to pay Harry’s three co-claimants £2.1 million towards their costs. Harry’s charges were not revealed in court.
Harry’s case at trial was heard alongside similar claims from actor Michael Turner, who is known professionally as Michael Le Vell and is best known for his role as Kevin Webster in Coronation Street, actress Nikki Sanderson and Fiona Wightman, the ex-wife of comedian Paul. White House.
Ms Sanderson and Ms Wightman’s claims were dismissed as being filed out of time, despite the judge ruling that some of their complaints had been proven.
A spokesperson for MGN said: ‘We are pleased to have reached this agreement, which gives our company greater clarity moving forward following events that occurred many years ago for which we have apologised.’