The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Harry: ‘Media misled me for my whole life’
The Duke of Sussex told the High Court he would “feel some injustice” if his phone-hacking claims against the publisher of the Mirror were rejected, as he concluded giving evidence in his case.
He also claimed the press “misled me and covered up the wrongdoing” for his whole life and went to “extreme lengths to cover their tracks”, during a second day in the witness box.
Harry, 38, is suing Mirror
Group Newspapers (MGN) for damages, claiming journalists at its titles were linked to methods including phone hacking, so-called “blagging” or gaining information by deception, and use of private investigators for unlawful activities.
He told the court: “I believe that phone hacking was (done) on an industrial scale across at least three of the papers at the time... that is beyond any doubt.
“To have a decision against me and any of the other people (bringing a claim), given that Mirror Group have admitted hacking, yes, I would feel some injustice... if it wasn’t accepted.”
During almost eight hours of questioning over two days, the duke repeatedly told the court that articles published in MGN titles were “incredibly suspicious” and bore “telltale signs” of unlawful activity.
He told Fancourt remembered
Mr Justice that he suspicious
activity, including missed calls and missing voicemail messages “from the moment I had a mobile phone”.
But MGN’s barrister Andrew Green KC contended that Harry had no call data evidence and it was “total speculation” that journalists unlawfully obtained the information about him in 33 articles at the centre of his case.
Facing questions from his own barrister David Sherborne, Harry denied he had been speculating, saying there was “hard evidence”.
The duke told the court: “For my whole life the press has misled me and covered up the wrongdoing. For me to be sitting here in court knowing the defence has the evidence in front of them, and Mr Green
suggesting I’m speculating, I’m not entirely sure what to say.”
Harry earlier told the court that hacking him would have been “an incredibly risky thing to do”. In his written evidence, the duke said the alleged hacking of his phone “presented very real security concerns for not only me but also everyone around me”.