'I launched hacking claim to stop abuse of Meghan,' Prince Harry tells High Court
7 June 2023, 14:08 | Updated: 7 June 2023, 14:16
Prince Harry launched his phone hacking claim against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) to ‘stop the abuse and intrusion’ that he and Meghan Markle faced, the High Court heard today.
Asked about when he first aimed to bring a claim against MGN, Harry said it came from “a discussion about how to find a way to stop the abuse and intrusion that was coming against me and my wife.”
He said Prince Harry “bumped into” his lawyer David Sherborne in France in 2018 and said the initial discussions were about finding a way to “stop the abuse… without relying on the institution’s lawyers.”
He also claimed he may have been hacked on a daily basis for a 15-year period.
After taking the duke through all of the 33 articles being considered in the case, Andrew Green KC asked him when he first approached solicitors about making a claim against MGN.
Harry said: "I didn't go to them, I bumped into Mr Sherborne in France. It's in my book."
Asked when this meeting took place, the duke said: "It's referenced in my book, 2018-ish."
Mr Green asked if, before he spoke to lawyers, he had concerns over any particular articles being the result of unlawful activity.
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Harry said: "No, I was never shown anything. It was all contained within the palace." He added that even if he had been shown anything, he "would not have been allowed" to make a complaint.
Mr Green put to the duke that he has never been able to identify any story in an MGN publication to have come from phone hacking.
Harry replied: "I think that is a question for my legal team. There is hard evidence to suggest an incredible amount of suspiciousness and I believe that burner phones were used extensively."
When asked if there was a particular voicemail which he believes was intercepted, he answered: "I can't remember a specific voicemail that I left over the last 20 years."
Harry told the court he believed there was ‘industrial scale destruction of evidence’ of unlawful information gathering in relation to him.
Duke of Sussex returns to court for second day of giving evidence
Mr Green asked Prince Harry whether he thought his phone was “consistently hacked” throughout the 15-year period between 1996 and 2011, the time period that makes up the claim against MGN.
“It could have been happening on a daily basis, I simply don’t know,” Harry responds.
Asked if he was aware of any evidence to show this, Harry says: “No, that’s part of the reason I’m here, my lord”.
The Duke of Sussex, 38, is in the midst of a legal assault on the tabloid press, accusing newspapers of hounding him throughout his life and breaking the law in pursuit of exclusives, particularly around his personal life.
The Prince is represented by barrister to the stars David Sherborne, who recently emerged victorious from the Wagatha Christie High Court battle where he was Coleen Rooney’s lead counsel.
Harry made a string of bombshell comments in his first day of testimony yesterday, saying he was suffering intrusion into his life from the age of 11 and that media intrusion into his life cost him personal relationships.
He suggested the media has ‘blood on their hands’. “People have died as a result, and people will continue to kill themselves by suicide when they can’t see any other way out. How much more blood will stain their typing fingers before someone can put a stop to this madness,” he said.
He also called the government “rock bottom”, and said it is his personal mission to clean up journalism for the good of society.
“Democracy fails when your press fails to scrutinise and hold the government accountable, and instead choose to get into bed with them so they can ensure the status quo,” he said.
