Harry gets ‘substantial’ payout in phone-hacking case against UK tabloid, lawyer says | Maqvi News

LONDON  –  Prince Harry will receive a “substan­tial” payout after settling the remain­ing parts of his phone-hacking case against the publisher Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), his lawyer told the High Court in London Friday, ac­cording to the UK’s PA Media news agency. Lawyer David Sherborne told the court that MGN, which pub­lishes British tabloid The Daily Mir­ror, will pay the Duke of Sussex “a substantial additional sum by way of damages” as well as his legal costs, PA Media reported. 

In December, the judge ruled that Prince Harry was the victim of phone hacking and other means of “unlaw­ful information gathering” by MGN. The judge awarded Harry £140,600 ($177,000) in damages in the ruling. 

“Everything we said was happen­ing at Mirror Group was in fact hap­pening, and indeed far worse, as the court ruled in its extremely damag­ing judgment,” Prince Harry said in a statement read by his lawyer outside court Friday. “As the judge has said this morning, we have uncovered and proved the shockingly dishonest way the Mirror Group acted for many years and then sought to conceal the truth,” he said. Prince Harry initially submitted 33 articles for consider­ation, with the judge finding that 15 stories published by MGN were based on unlawful information gath­ering such as phone hacking and the use of private investigators. 

A further 115 articles were part of his claim, which could have been the subject of a further trial, but Prince Harry’s lawyer told the High Court on Friday that a settlement had been reached between the Duke of Sussex and MGN, according to the PA report. 

The Duke of Sussex had sued the British newspaper group, which also publishes The Sunday Mirror and Sunday People, alongside three other claimants, alleging that its journal­ists illegally intercepted his voice­mails and used other illicit means over a roughly 15-year period. 

He gave evidence in court as part of the case, a virtually unprecedent­ed move for a senior British royal. 

On Friday, he took aim at Piers Morgan, the former editor of the Mirror who, Harry said, “knew per­fectly well what was going on, as the judge held.” “Even his own employer realized it simply could not call him as a witness of truth. 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 judgment,” Harry added. “As I said back in December, our mission continues.