Duke targets Piers Morgan after hacking case settled

PRINCE Harry yesterday ended his fouryear legal battle against the Mirror’s publishers over phone hacking by accepting a ‘substantial’ sum of money.

The High Court was told Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) had also agreed to pay all of the Duke of Sussex’s costs.

Afterwards, Harry vowed to continue his crusade against the Press and, in particular, former Mirror editor Piers Morgan. He claimed Mr Morgan had ‘known perfectly well what was going on’ when his newspaper hacked Harry’s phone for stories. Mr Morgan has denied the claim.

Last night, Mr Morgan said on X: ‘I totally agree with Prince Harry that ruthless intrusion into the private lives of the Royal Family for financial gain is utterly reprehensible... and I hope he stops doing it.’

The duke’s legal claim against MGN began in October 2019. Last December, Mr Justice Fancourt ruled that 1 out of 33 articles had come from hacking. They were a ‘sample’ from a total of 148 articles Harry had complained about.

However, the judge threw out the remaining 17 articles in the duke’s claims.

A second trial had been mooted to consider the remaining 11 articles. But yesterday it was announced there had been an out-of-court settlement. Harry’s barrister David Sherborne said: ‘MGN will pay a substantial additional sum by way of damages and all of the costs of his claim’.

The sum was not specified but is in addition to the £140,600 already awarded.

A spokesman for MGN said: ‘We are pleased to have reached this agreement, which gives our business further clarity to move forward from events that took place many years ago and for which we have apologised.’