‘Dragon slayer’ Duke eyes more blood from tabloid as Mirror legal fight set to continue

THE Duke of Sussex will pursue a second High Court hacking trial against Mirror Group Newspapers if he is not awarded appropriate damages following his “overwhelmingly successful” High Court victory against the publisher.

Prince Harry wants another trial “as soon as possible” unless the newspaper group meets his financial demands, the High Court heard yesterday.

The Duke sued the newspaper group over 148 articles he alleged had been obtained illegally, revealing, when he gave evidence last June, that he was motivated by a desire to protect his wife, the Duchess of Sussex.

He was awarded £140,600 after the judge found that 15 of 33 articles selected for examination at trial were the product of phone-hacking or unlawful information gathering. The ruling prompted the Duke to hail himself a “dragon slayer” as he vowed to continue his crusade against the tabloid press.

As the case returned to the High Court yesterday, it emerged that no agreement had been made concerning potential damages for the outstanding 115 stories comprising his claim. They include reports about his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, his relationship with former girlfriend Chelsy Davy and his military career, which he believes were obtained illegally.

It emerged in court that MGN had offered to settle his claim pre-trial. Roger Mallalieu KC, for MGN, revealed in court documents that “offers have been made” to Prince Harry but insisted that the terms remain secret. The Duke’s barrister, David Sherborne, suggested that although attempts would be made to resolve the remainder of his claim through agreement, his client was prepared to return to the witness box.

The barrister said a further trial would probably take up to 10 days, depending on the number of witnesses called by MGN. Both MGN and the Duke agreed that his costs should be reserved pending resolution of the outstanding articles. But Mr Sherborne demanded almost £2million from MGN towards the legal costs of bringing “generic” allegations to court.

The judge said he would hand down his costs ruling at a later date.