Prince Harry loses landmark privacy case against Daily Mail publisher: 'MAGNIFICENT VINDICATION'
· Toronto Sun
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Prince Harry did not kick off his trip to the U.K. with a bang.
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The Duke of Sussex, along with other high-profile claimants including Elizabeth Hurley and Elton John, had accused Associated Newspapers Ltd. (ANL), the publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday , of unlawful information-gathering.
Why were the claims dismissed?
High Court Judge Mr. Justice Nicklin dismissed all the claims, including “abhorrent criminal activity and gross breaches of privacy,” saying that the parties failed to prove their allegations, according to the BBC .
“The Court rejected the attempt to prove the claims by broad inference where there remained a legitimate and realistic possible lawful source pathway, or where the article-specific evidence did not prove that the relevant information must have been obtained unlawfully,” a summary of the judgment read, per the outlet.
The claimants accused the publisher of “grave breaches of privacy,” alleging ANL commissioned individuals to listen to private telephone calls, paid police officials “with corrupt links to private investigators” for inside information and impersonated individuals to obtain medical records.
The company has long denied the allegations, describing them as “preposterous smears” and saying the claimants are “clutching at straws.”
Prince Harry arrived in the U.K. on Monday, partly to learn the verdict, which coincided with events centring on his beloved Invictus Games.
Earlier this year, the royal testified at trial, describing how ANI’s tabloid papers made wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex’s life “a misery.”
‘Magnificent vindication’
ANI issued a statement following the ruling, per the BBC , noting that it “welcomes today’s judgement, which is an overwhelming victory for the Daily Mail and its journalists, and for a free press generally.”
It continued: “Mr Justice Nicklin today cleared The Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday , and dismissed every single one of the 97 allegations made by the claimants. In every case, the Judge accepted the honesty of our journalists’ evidence on how they sourced their stories. This is a magnificent vindication of the Daily Mail’s journalism.”
The company noted that of all the “outrageous allegations… no credible evidence was ever presented.”
It added: “As we said at the time, these allegations were ‘lurid’ and ‘preposterous,’ and were a fishing expedition by the claimants and their legal teams in a politically motivated campaign to muzzle the free press.”
Conclusion of Harry’s lawsuits
The ruling marks the last of Harry’s series of lawsuits against the British press in recent years.
Harry and Meghan previously received a symbolic £1 ($1.90) in damages from the Mail on Sunday after successfully winning her legal case against the paper for publishing a personal letter she sent to her dad, Thomas Markle, in 2018.
Harry was also previously awarded 140,600 pounds (about $267,050) after London’s High Court ruled he had been a victim of “modest” phone-hacking and other unlawful information-gathering by journalists at Britain’s Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), publisher of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People.
Harry also reached a surprise settlement with News Group Newspapers, the publisher of the U.K. Sun , which paid an eight-figure sum in damages and issued a “full and unequivocal apology to the Duke of Sussex” for “the phone hacking, surveillance and misuse of private information by journalists and private investigators instructed by them.”
Harry admitted in a British documentary that the crusade against the tabloids had been “part of a rift” with Royal Family members.
That included his father, King Charles, who opposed the litigation, the prince said in legal filings.
According to the BBC , Harry, who remains in London for an event before heading to Birmingham, is not expected to give an on-camera response to the verdict.
Will Harry and Charles still meet up?
Harry’s trip began chaotically after Buckingham Palace contradicted the duke’s team, saying that he would not be staying at the palace after missing a deadline to accept their offer of accommodation.
Meghan and their children, Archie and Lilibet, were initially going to join Harry on the trip, but following security concerns that could not be worked around, they remained at home in California.
It remains unclear whether Harry and Charles will find time to visit with one another, or whether Harry’s family will join him once he leaves London for other events.
Last year, Harry said he felt unable to bring his family to Britain after losing a court case to have his security restored during visits home.
Harry has long blamed the media for the death of his mother, Princess Diana, who was killed in a Paris car crash in 1997 while trying to shake off the paparazzi.
Simon Morgan, a former bodyguard for the royal family, told the AFP on Monday that the prince “understands how that protection can fail and how catastrophic, therefore, those results can be.”