Prince Harry receives ‘substantial’ payout after phone hacking scandal

The Duke of Sussex had already been awarded £140,600 ($268,000) in damages in December after the High Court in London found Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) was at fault.

The new amount will be on top of that. The various payouts and recovered court costs could see more than a million dollars go into the Sussex’s bank account.

Harry has claimed that 140 stories published in MGN newspapers about him were a result of his phone being illegally hacked into.

MGN, now part of media company Reach, published the Mirror and Sunday People newspapers.

With the court case finished, Prince Harry took aim at former Mirror editor Piers Morgan saying the now commentator and presenter “he knew perfectly well” what was happening when he helmed the paper.

Prince Harry’s lawyer, David Sherborne said that MGN will pay the Duke £400,000 ($774,500) to cover his legal fees.

In his judgment on the case in December Judge Timothy Fancourt, said there could “be no doubt” Piers Morgan knew that hacking was taking place – a claim Morgan has vehemently denied.

Mr Sherborne, read out a statement from the Duke who is now back in the US.

The prince said Morgan “as editor, knew perfectly well what was going on”.

“Even his own employer realised it simply could not call him as a witness of truth at the trial.

“His contempt for the court’s ruling and his continued attacks ever since demonstrate why it was so important to obtain a clear and detailed Judgement.”

The royal claimed he was targeted for 15 years and more than 140 stories published in MGN’s newspapers were a result of unlawful information gathering.

The December trial only considered 33 of these, with Justice Fancourt ruling 15 of the sample articles were “the product of phone hacking … or the product of other unlawful information gathering”.

In his judgment, Justice Fancourt said Prince Harry had a “tendency” to assume all articles about him were the products of hacking, though he was right on some occasions.

“I have found the duke’s case of voicemail interception and unlawful information gathering proved in part only,” Justice Fancourt said.

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

“However, it did happen on occasions from about the end of 2003 to April 2009 (which was the date of the last article that I examined).

“There was a tendency for the duke in his evidence to assume that everything published was the product of voicemail interception because phone hacking was rife within Mirror Group at the time.

“But, phone hacking was not the only journalistic tool at the time and his claims in relation to the other 18 articles did not stand up to careful analysis.”

MGN apologised for the confirmed hacking incidents.

In a statement, a spokesman for the publisher said: “We welcome today’s judgment that gives the business the necessary clarity to move forward from events that took place many years ago.

“Where historical wrongdoing took place, we apologise unreservedly, have taken full responsibility and paid appropriate compensation.”