‘Slaying dragons’: Prince Harry celebrates major court win

Prince Harry said he was ‘vindicated’ after winning a major ruling against a UK newspaper group, and called on police to bring charges against journalists ‘intimidating’ his family.

Prince Harry welcomed a UK court ruling that he was a victim of phone hacking as “vindicating and affirming”, before calling on prosecutors to investigate charges against the Mirror Newspaper Group.

“I’ve been told slaying dragons will get you burned. But in light of today’s victory and the importance of doing what is needed for a free and honest press — it’s a worthwhile price to pay,” Harry said a statement released by his legal team. “The mission continues,”

The Duke of Sussex’s invocation of England’s dragon slaying patron, Saint George, came after a judge awarded £140,600 ($A267,522) in damages for “hurt” and “distress” over 15 of 33 articles ruled to be the result of phone hacking between 2003 and 2011.

Prince Harry leaving the phone hacking trial in June after becoming the first royal to take the stand in more than a century. Picture: AFP

Prince Harry watched the ruling via video link from his home in LA as Justice Timothy Fancourt said his privacy was breached as a result of journalists unlawfully obtaining information.

Justice Fancourt ruled there was “extensive” phone hacking by Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) and “even to some extent” during the Leveson Inquiry into media standards.

He also ruled that ex-Mirror CEO Sly Bailey knew of hacking and “turned a blind eye”.

The judge said the level of compensation was modest but reflected the hurt experienced by the Duke of Sussex because of MGN’s concealment of the wrongdoing.

Prince Harry became the first British royal to take give evidence in a trial since the then-future King Edward VII to the stand more than a century ago in the 1890s.

The judge found Harry’s associates were also unlawfully targeted by MGN, and

journalists at the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People, by phone hacking, unlawful activities and so-called “blagging”, or gaining information by deception.

The “systemic” use of private investigators to unlawfully obtain information was authorised by senior editors, the court heard.

MGN had admitted to “some evidence” of unlawful information gathering, including for a story about Harry.

But it had denied voicemail interception and also argued that some claims were brought too late by Harry and the other claimants.

In a statement after the ruling, former Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan said the judgement found only one article about Prince Harry that may have involved unlawful information gathering during his nine-year tenure.

“To be clear, I had then and still have zero knowledge of how that particular story was gathered,” Morgan said.

“I also want to reiterate, as I’ve consistently said for many years now, I’ve never hacked a phone or told anybody else to hack a phone.”

Prince Harry said it was a great day for “truth” and “accountability” and that he was “happy” to have won the case in the face of “vendetta journalism”

In a statement by the prince read out outside the court by his lawyer David Sherbourne, Prince Harry said the case was not just about hacking, it was about “systemic and appalling behaviour followed by cover-ups”.

Lawyer David Sherbourne read out Prince Harry’s statement as the Duke watched the ruling from Los Angeles via video link. Picture: Getty Images

“The shocking scale of hacking was only revealed through these court proceedings,” he said, adding that the court confirmed all four claimants were subject to voicemail interception and unlawful information gathering.

“But no one would have believed that given how this case was covered by the UK,” the prince said in a statement, adding senior executives and editors “clearly knew about or were involved in” unlawful information gathering.

”Between them, they even went as far as to lie under oath at the Leveson Inquiry,” he said.

“The journey to justice can be a slow and painful one and defamatory stories and since bringing my face five years ago, intimidating tactics have been deployed against me and at my family’s expense.”

Prince Harry’s historic statement after victory in a UK court. Picture: Getty Images

The Duke of Sussex went on to “respectfully call on authorities, the financial regulator, stock markets … and the Metropolitan Police to investigate bringing charges against the company.

MGN welcomed the judgement in a statement, saying the ruling “gives the business the necessary clarity to move forward from events that took place many years ago”.

“Where historical wrongdoing took place, we apologise unreservedly, have taken full responsibility and paid appropriate compensation,” the statement said.

The judge, meanwhile, ruled that 18 of Prince Harry’s 33 claims did not always “stand up to careful analysis.”

“There was a tendency for the Duke in his evidence to assume that everything published was the product of voicemail interception because phone hacking was rife within Mirror Group at the time,” Mr Justice Fancourt said.

“But phone hacking was not the only journalistic tool at the time.”

With AFP