Harry was victim of hacking by Mirror Group papers, judge rules

Harry was victim of hacking by Mirror Group papers, judge rules

In a landmark decision, the High Court ruled that Prince Harry was a victim of phone hacking by Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) and awarded him £140,600 in damages.

Justice Fancourt, presiding over the case, revealed that the prince’s personal phone had been targeted during the period spanning from 2003 to 2009. 

The severity of the violation was underscored by the acknowledgement that 15 out of 33 sample articles scrutinised were either “the product of phone hacking” or resulted from other forms of “unlawful information gathering.”

The judgement further exposed the extent of the wrongdoing, as the court found that there was “extensive” phone hacking by Mirror Group Newspapers from 2006 to 2011. This revelation adds a significant dimension to the case, emphasising the prolonged and systematic nature of the privacy invasion.

Additionally, Justice Fancourt’s ruling took a notable turn as he addressed the involvement of Piers Morgan, the former editor of the Daily Mirror. The judge concluded that Morgan not only knew about the phone hacking activities but was actively involved in them. This implicates Morgan in the larger scandal surrounding the breach of privacy within the media organisation during his tenure.

In response to the damning findings, Mirror Group Newspapers issued a statement expressing unreserved apologies for the instances where “historical wrongdoing took place.”