Prince Harry wins civil suit against Britain's Mirror tabloid

Prince Harry was awarded 140,600 pounds, orabout $240,430 Cdn,after London's High Court ruled on Friday he had been a victim of "modest" phone-hacking and other unlawful information gathering by journalists at Britain's Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN).

The prince who became the first senior royal to appear as a witness in court in 130 years at the trial in June had sued MGN, the publisher of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People.

Harry, now 39, said he was targeted by MGN for 15 years from 1996 and that more than 140 stories that appeared in its papers were the result of unlawful information gathering. The trial only concerned 33 articles.

"I found that 15 out of the 33 articles that were tried were the product of phone hacking of his mobile phone or the mobile phones of his associates, or the product of other unlawful information gathering," Judge Timothy Fancourt said.

"I consider that his phone was only hacked to a modest extentand that this was probably carefully controlled by certain people at each newspaper."

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The judge concluded there had been widespread hacking and unlawful activities from 1996 until 2011, even carrying on while a public inquiry into illicit practices at British newspapers was taking place.

The judgment was damning on the involvement of senior editors and executives, saying they were fully aware of what was going on. Among those was high-profile broadcaster Piers Morgan, who has become a vocal critic of Harry and hiswife, Meghan.

WATCH l David Sherborne, lawyer for Harry, reads prince's reaction to judgment:

Prince Harry slams 'appalling behaviour' of Mirror paper group

10 months ago

Duration 0:49

Prince Harry's lawyer says the court found that senior leaders at Britain's Mirror Group, including editors, knew about the 'systemic practice of unlawful and appalling behaviour' including coverups and destruction of evidence.

The prince had sought damages of 440,000 pounds ($753,000 Cdn).

Fancourt said in his ruling that Harry had a tendency in his testimony "to assume that everything published was the product of voicemail interception." Fancourt said the Mirror Group was "not responsible for all of the unlawful activity directed at the duke."

Prince slams Piers, calls for criminal probe

In a statement outside court on Friday, Harry's barrister David Sherborne read a statement in which the prince expressed gratitude and vindication for the judgment and said he hoped for a "free and honest press" that is accountable and free from what he described as "vendetta journalism."

Harry also called for British regulatory authorities and the police to take action against those identified as having broken the law.

"This case is not just about hacking. It is about a systemic practice of unlawful and appalling behaviour followed by coverups and destruction of evidence, the shocking scale of which can only be revealed through these proceedings," the statement read by Sherborne said.

"The court has found that Mirror Group's principal board directors, their legal department, senior executives, and editors such as Piers Morgan, clearly knew about or were involved in these illegal activities," Harry added. "Between them, they even went as far as lying under oath to Parliament, during the Leveson Inquiry, to the Stock Exchange, and to us all ever since."

Morgan left the Mirror in 2004.

He said on Friday: "I've never hacked a phone or told anybody else to hack a phone and nobody has produced any actual evidence to prove that I did."

WATCH l Morgan says only 1 applicable article in his tenure to prince's case:

Piers Morgan says he has never told anyone to hack a phone

10 months ago

Duration 1:02

In response to the ruling in Prince Harry's case against the Mirror Group Newspapers, U.K. media personality Piers Morgan reiterated his assertion that he's never been involved in phone hacking.

Speaking outside his London home, Morgan added: "I wasn't called as a witness ... by either side in the case, nor was I asked to provide any statement. I would have very happily agreed to do either or both of those things had I been asked."

The publisher of the Daily Mirror acknowledged and apologized for unlawfully gathering information about Prince Harry in court filings in the case, but denied phone hacking allegations.

"We welcome today's judgment that gives the business the necessary clarity to move forward from events that took place many years ago," an MGN spokesperson said on Friday.

"Where historical wrongdoing took place, we apologize unreservedly, have taken full responsibility and paid appropriate compensation."

LISTEN l CBC's Commotion on Harry and the paparazzi (May 18, 2023):

25:00Harry and Meghan and the politics of the paparazzi

Harry has also sued the publishers of the Daily Mail and The Sun in similar cases.

He has criticized the British tabloids extensively outside of the courts, including in a Netflix series released in late 2022 as well as his memoir, Spare, published earlier this year.

He blames paparazzi for causing the car crash that killed his mother, Princess Diana, and he said intrusions by journalists led him and Meghanto leave royal life for the U.S. in 2020.