itstargetnews
Prince Harry declared a “monumental” victory over Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper group on Wednesday after the publisher settled his lawsuit, admitting for the first time wrongdoing at his Sun tabloid and paying unspecified damages.
Harry, 40, the younger son of King Charles, sued the publisher of the Sun and the long-defunct News of the World at the High Court in London, claiming that News Groups Newspapers (NGN) unlawfully obtained private information about him from 1996 to 2011.
News Group offered a “full and unequivocal apology to the Duke of Sussex” for “the phone hacking, surveillance and misuse of private data by journalists and private investigators they commissioned,” Harry’s lawyer David Sherborne said in a statement read in court.
Sherborne said a deal had been reached with NGN agreeing to pay significant damages and NGN admitting Harry was the victim of illegal Sun activity and suffered phone hacking by the News of the World.
Hear from Prince Harry’s lawyer, David Sherborne, after a long-running privacy lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers was settled on Wednesday.
Sherborne said “the time for accountability has arrived”, calling on British police and the UK government to open investigations, saying NGN executives had helped clean up 30 million emails over the years, obstructing civil proceedings.
The lawyer, who said prosecutors intend to provide police with a “wrongdoing dossier”, also attacked Rebekah Brooks, who was editor of the Sun between 2003 and 2009.
Brooks resigned from the parent company now known as News Corp UK shortly before she was arrested in July 2011 on suspicion of conspiracy to intercept communications and other charges. She was acquitted on trial in 2014 and rejoined News Corp UK the following year.
“At the 2014 trial, Rebekah Brooks said, ‘When I was editor of The Sun, we ran a clean ship,'” Sherburne said. “Now, 10 years later, when she is the CEO of the company, they now admit, while she was editor of The Sun, they ran a criminal enterprise.”
Apologies to Harry in full
“NGN offers a full and unequivocal apology to the Duke of Sussex for The Sun’s serious interference in his private life between 1996 and 2011, including incidents of illegal activity carried out by private investigators working for The Sun,” the News Group said in an apology.
“NGN also offers a full and unequivocal apology to the Duke of Sussex for the phone hacking, surveillance and misuse of private information by journalists and private investigators they referred to the News of the World.
“NGN further apologizes to the Duke for the impact on him of the extensive coverage and serious intrusion into his private life, as well as that of Diana, Princess of Wales, his late mother, particularly during his younger years.
“We acknowledge and apologize for the distress we have caused the duke and the damage to relationships, friendships and family and have agreed to pay him substantial compensation.”
News Group says the harmful actions are a thing of the past
Harry has long railed against British tabloids for their reporting and paparazzi, suing numerous British tabloids.
He first filed suit against NGN in 2019, and an eight-week trial of their hotly contested lawsuit was set to begin on Tuesday.
Harry – who became the first senior member of the royal family to appear as a witness in court in 130 years at a separate trial in 2023 – was due to give evidence next month.
It is believed that Harry is currently in California, where he still lives.
Harry admitted in a British documentary that the crusade was “part of the rift”, with members of the royal family.
King Charles opposed the litigation, Harry said in legal filings.
NGN has paid out hundreds of millions of pounds to victims of phone hacking and other illegal information gathering by the News of the World, and has settled more than 1,300 lawsuits involving celebrities, politicians, famous sports figures and ordinary people who were associated with them or major events.
But he has always rejected any claims that there was wrongdoing at the Sun newspaper, or that any senior figures knew about it or tried to cover it up, as Harry’s lawsuit alleges.
In a statement, an NGN spokesman said the apology was for the illegal actions of private investigators working for The Sun, not its journalists.
“There are strong controls and processes in place across all our titles today to ensure this cannot happen now. There was no interception of voicemails at The Sun,” the spokesman said, adding that the settlement marked the likely end of any lawsuits, and that will future cases could have been thrown out.
Sian Harrison, London-based author and expert in media lawtold CBC News that Harry received a “significant” concession from the Sun, but that the tabloid and its corporate executives will be pleased to have avoided airing damaging allegations in court.
While the prince promised to follow the suit to court, Harrison said she believed the fact that British civil law imposes exorbitant legal fees on those who lose their case was undoubtedly a factor.
Harrison added that, despite Sherborne’s comments outside court, it was “probably quite unlikely” that all these years later would result in further criminal charges.
A British lawmaker also received an apology
Labour’s Tom Watson, who serves in the House of Lords, was to be part of a trial over similar claims to the Duke of Sussex. Watson also received an apology from Murdoch on Wednesday.
NGN offered “a full and unequivocal apology to Lord Watson for the unjustified intrusion into his private life during his time in government by the News of the World during the period 2009-2011.”
Former Labor deputy leader Tom Watson, who also won a settlement on Wednesday, praised the British prince’s courage and determination in fighting tabloids owned by media baron Rupert Murdoch and others.
In their joint statement, Harry and Watson said NGN has paid out more than £1 billion ($1.77 billion) over the years.
Watson, in his remarks outside court, praised Harry’s “courage and admirable courage” in prosecuting the case “under extraordinary pressure”.
The lawmaker called on Rupert Murdoch to offer a personal apology to Harry and others whose privacy has been breached by organizations in his media empire.
Hugh Grant settled with NGN last year over claims that reporters used private investigators to tap his phone and break into his home. The actor expressed reluctance to do so, but said the legal costs were potentially too high and that he would donate the proceeds of the settlement he received to media advocacy groups.
The News of the World has shut down after 168 years of operation following a phone hacking scandal.
At a British parliamentary hearing in 2011, Murdoch expressed regret for what had happened at his newspaper in the UK, but insisted he bore no personal responsibility.
Prince Harry is declaring victory after a London judge said he was the victim of phone hacking by British publisher Mirror Group Newspapers.
“The people I trusted to run it, and then maybe the people they trusted,” they did, he said.
Murdoch’s companies own a number of other news outlets around the world, including Fox News, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post in the US, the Times of London in the UK and several companies in his native Australia.
Harry was previously awarded 140,600 pounds (about Cdn 240,430) after London’s High Court ruled that he was the victim of “modest” phone hacking and other illegal information gathering by reporters from British newspaper Mirror Group (MGN).
Harry sued MGN, publisher of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People.
But the Duke of Sussex was ordered to pay the Daily Mail’s legal costs in another legal bid that failed, and he subsequently dropped the case.
