Prince Harry said he had delivered a “monumental” victory over Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper group on Wednesday after the publisher settled his lawsuit, admitting wrongdoing at his Sun tabloid for the first time and paying unspecified damages.
Harry, 40, the youngest son of King Charles, sued the publisher of The Sun and the defunct News of the World at the High Court in London, claiming that Newspapers News Organizations (NGN) illegally obtained private information about him from 1996 until now. 2011.
News Group offered “a full and unequivocal apology to the Duke of Sussex” for “phone hacking, surveillance and misuse of private information by journalists and private investigators directed by them,” a according to a statement read by Harry's lawyer, David Sherborne, in court.
Sherborne said an agreement had been reached with NGN agreeing to pay substantial damages and that NGN had admitted that Harry was the victim of illegal activity by the Sun and that he suffered a telephone seizure at the hands of News of the World.
Hear from Prince Harry's lawyer, David Sherborne, after a settlement was reached in a long-running privacy claim against the Rupert Murdoch News Group newspapers on Wednesday.
Sherborne said “the time for accountability has arrived,” calling on British police and the UK government to open probes, alleging that NGN officials helped clean up 30 million emails over the years, interfering with the civil case.
The lawyer, who said the prosecutors intended to “give the police a file revealing an offence,” also targeted Rebekah Brooks, who was editor of The Sun between 2003 and 2009.
Brooks resigned from the parent company, now News Corp UK, shortly before her arrest in July 2011 on suspicion of conspiracy and other charges. She was acquitted at trial in 2014, and returned to News Corp UK the following year.
“At her trial in 2014, Rebekah Brooks said, 'When I was editor of The Sun, we ran a clean ship,'” Sherburne said. “Now, 10 years later, when she is CEO of the company, they now admit that when she was editor of The Sun, they ran a criminal enterprise.
Apologies to Harry in full
“NGN offers a full and unreserved apology to the Duke of Sussex for The Sun's serious intrusion into his private life between 1996 and 2011, including incidents of illegal activity by private investigators who work for The Sun,” read the News Group apology.
“NGN also makes a full and unequivocal apology to the Duke of Sussex for the wiretapping, surveillance and misuse of private information by journalists and private investigators directed by them at News of the World.
“NGN further apologizes to the Duke for the impact the extensive coverage and intrusion has had on his private life as well as that of Diana, Princess of Wales, his late mother, in particular in his youth.
“We acknowledge and apologize for the distress the Duke has caused, and the damage he has caused to relationships, friendships and family, and we have agreed to pay him substantial damages.
News Group says that there are harmful actions in the past
Harry has long been against the British tabloids over their reporting and paparazzi, suing several British tabloid news outlets.
He first brought the lawsuit against NGN in 2019, and an eight-week trial to decide their disputed trial was due to begin on Tuesday.
Harry – who became the first senior royal to testify 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 currently lives.
Harry admitted in a British documentary that the crusade had been “part of a rift,” with members of the royal family.
King Charles opposed the lawsuit, Harry said in legal filings.
NGN has paid hundreds of millions of pounds to victims of phone hacking and other illegal information gathering by the News of the World, and settled more than 1,300 lawsuits including celebrities, politicians, sports celebrities and ordinary people who had a connection. on them or big events.
But he has always denied any allegations of wrongdoing at the Sun newspaper, or that senior officials knew about it or tried to cover it up, as is the case Harry demanded.
In a statement, an NGN spokesperson said its apology for the illegal actions of private investigators working for The Sun, not its journalists.
“All our titles have robust controls and processes in place today to ensure this cannot happen now. There was no voicemail interception of The Sun,” the spokesman said, adding that the settlement marked the end of any litigation, and the future. things tended to be thrown out.
Sean Harrison, London-based author and media law experttold CBC News that Harry won a “significant” discount from The Sun, but that the tabloid and corporate executives will be happy to have avoided damaging lawsuits in court.
While the prince promised to follow the lawsuit through to the courtroom, Harrison said in his opinion, that British civil law prohibits legal costs for those who lose suits without a doubt.
Harrison said that despite Sherborne's comments outside court, it was “probably very unlikely” that further criminal charges would result in the following years.
The British lawmaker is also getting his apology
Tom Watson of the Labor Party, who serves in the House of Lords, was to be part of the trial for similar claims to the Duke of Sussex. Watson also received an apology from Murdoch's company on Wednesday.
NGN offered “a full and unequivocal apology to Lord Watson for the unwarranted intrusion of the News of the World into his private life during his time in Government during the period 2009-2011.”
The former deputy leader of the Labor Party, 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 now paid out more than 1 billion pounds ($1.77B Cdn) over the years.
Watson, in his own comments outside court, praised Harry's “incredible bravery and courage” in pursuing the case “under incredible pressure”.
The lawmaker called on Rupert Murdoch to issue a personal apology to Harry and others whose privacy was breached by groups in his media empire.
Last year Hugh Grant settled with NGN over allegations that journalists used private investigators to tap his phone and break into his house. The actor expressed his unwillingness to do so, but said that legal costs could be prohibitive, and that he would donate money from the settlement he won to advocacy groups.
The News of the World has folded after 168 years of operation as a result of a phone hacking scandal.
At a British parliamentary hearing, Murdoch in 2011 expressed regret about what happened in his British papers but insisted that he was not personally responsible.
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,” he said.
Murdoch's companies have several other news organizations around the world, including Fox News, the Wall Street Journal and New York Post in the US, the Times of London in the UK and several companies in his birthplace, Australia.
Harry was previously awarded 140,600 pounds (about $240,430 Cdn) after the High Court in London ruled that he was the victim of “minor” phone hacking and other illegal information gathering by journalists at British newspapers Mirror Group (MGN).
Harry had sued MGN, publisher of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People.
But the Duke of Sussex was ordered to pay legal costs to the Daily Mail in a separate legal claim, and he later abandoned that case.
