Harry: Piers Morgan’s behaviour ‘vile and unjustifiable’

The Duke of Sussex took aim at the journalist during his High Court legal battle, accusing Morgan of ‘a barrage of horrific personal attacks and intimidation’ against wife Meghan.

Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, arrives at Britain's High Court.

Prince Harry has singled out high profile journalist Piers Morgan, with the fifth in line to the throne saying he wanted to hold the former editor of the Daily Mirror accountable for “vile and entirely unjustified behaviour” in his historic High Court legal claim of unlawful information gathering.

Harry, 38, also accused Mr Morgan of subjecting himself and his wife Meghan to “a barrage of horrific personal attacks and intimidation”. Harry said this was as a consequence of bringing the Mirror Group claim and added it was “presumably in retaliation and in the hope that I will back down, before being able to hold him properly accountable for his unlawful activity towards both me and my mother during his editorship.”

In a 55 page written statement to the High Court in London, Harry made various claims about Mr Morgan, which have been vehemently denied by Mirror Group Newspaper lawyers. Mr Morgan, before the trial, had denied any knowledge of phone hacking under his watch. He was editor between 1995 and 2004. In the wake of the Sussexes leaving the Royal family, Mr Morgan called Meghan “Princess Pinocchio”.

Harry wrote: ”the thought of Piers Morgan and his band of journalists earwigging into my mother’s private and sensitive messages (in the same way as they have me) and then having given her a “nightmare time” three months prior to her death in Paris, makes me feel physically sick and even more determined to hold those responsible, including Mr Morgan, accountable for their vile and entirely unjustified behaviour.”

The Prince accused Piers Morgan of ‘vile and unjustifiable behaviour’.

His outburst was in response to three letters written by Harry’s mother, Diana, the Princess of Wales, to the comic Michael Barrymore, one which said she was horrified at the thought of Mr Barrymore thinking that she had leaked the details.

Harry said: “I can only assume that this information had been obtained via voicemail interception and/or other unlawful information gathering such as live land line tapping. “

Harry used the court case to launch a withering take down of the press in the United Kingdom, accusing their legal representatives and the Board of covering up the truth. He also took a political position about the current Conservative government.

“Unfortunately, without proper press regulation (which the current government clearly have no appetite for, because their friends in the press said so), it’s only going to get worse,’’ he wrote.

“Finding out about this level of cover up is what makes me want to see my Mirror Group Newspaper claim through to the end, so people can really understand what happened. The fact that it was not just the journalists who were carrying out the unlawful activity, but also those in power who were turning a blind eye to it so as to ensure that it would continue unabated, and who then tried to cover it up when the game was up is appalling.”

Harry then claimed the press was “ganging up to protect each other” and caused the media as being “the mothership of online trolling”.

He added: “Trolls react and mobilise to stories they create. 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.”