‘Good morning’: Prince Harry greets waiting media as he arrives at the High Court for day three of his hacking claim
Prince Harry has said he would feel “some injustice” if his hacking claims against the publisher of the Daily Mirror were not believed.
Prince Harry returned to the High Court on Wednesday as the trial over alleged unlawful information gathering continued.
Prince Harry, 38, is suing Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) for damages, claiming journalists at its titles – which also include the Sunday Mirror and Sunday People – were linked to methods including phone hacking, so-called “blagging” – or gaining information by deception- and use of private investigators for unlawful activities.
In reference to the alleged lack of call data in Harry’s claim, Andrew Green KC, asked Harry if he would be “disappointed” if the court finds his phone was not hacked by MGN journalists.
Harry told the court: “To have a decision against me and any of the other people (bringing a claim), given that Mirror Group have admitted hacking, yes it would feel like an injustice… if it wasn’t accepted.”
Andrew Green KC, for MGN, then asked the duke: “So you want to have been phone hacked?”
Harry replied: “Nobody wants to be phone hacked.”
The Duke of Sussex also alleged the risk “worth the reward” for journalists as he was quizzed over a row with his ex over a boozy lap dance during his hacking claim.
Harry arrived outside the Rolls Building in central London shortly before 10am on Wednesday in a black Range Rover and said ‘good morning,’ but did not answer reporters’ questions before going inside.
He alleges that about 140 articles published between 1996 and 2010 by MGN titles contained information gathered using unlawful methods, and 33 of these have been selected to be considered at the trial.
MGN is contesting his claims and has either denied or not admitted that articles about Harry being examined at the trial involved phone hacking or unlawful activity.
Harry quizzed on ‘boozy’ lap-dancing club visit claims
Prince Harry claimed the risk was “worth the reward” for journalists, who he claimed hacked his phone to source a story surrounding a row with his ex after a boozy night out.
He was asked questions in relation to an April 2006 Sunday People article reporting his former girlfriend Chelsy Davy’s “fury” over his “boozy evening at a lap-dancing club” after visiting a Spearmint Rhino club near Slough with friends.
Andrew Green KC said a News of the World article, around the same time, mentioned a voice mail that Prince William had left for him imitating Ms Davy’s voice.
The barrister said this story was an “important step” leading to the police arresting News of the World journalist Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, who were both later convicted over phone hacking.
Mr Green said no MGN journalists were arrested at the time of a police investigation, adding journalists would have been taking an “enormous risk” by hacking Harry’s phone or those around him.
“I think there was a risk right from the beginning,” the duke said, adding: “I believe the risk is worth the reward for them”.
Harry earlier said: “I think the focus was understandably on the News of the World,” but Mr Green said the investigation was “broader”.
The duke replied: “At the time we didn’t know there was voice mail hacking, no one did. I believe at the time no one really knew how that information could have got out. The understanding from the Palace was that this was probably a one off.”
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During Wednesday morning’s hearing, Mr Green pointed to a Daily Mail article about Harry visiting a lap dancing club, which said that one of the dancers “bore a resemblance” to his then-girlfriend Chelsy Davy.
Harry interjected to say that article was “factually inaccurate”
Mr Green suggested the People article contained no information that was not in the Mail one, to which Harry replied: “I don’t see any quotes from the Lithuanian lap dancer who sat on my lap, as in the (People) article.”
The duke described this as a “classic example” of a story about him originating from one media organisation and then “Mirror Group or anyone else who was one step behind would be encouraged to then go and find out more”.
‘Project Harry’
Prince Harry has said it was “incredibly disturbing” that Mirror journalists allegedly labelled payments made to private investigators looking into him as ‘Project Harry’.
He added an article entitled “Hooray Harry’s dumped” about the Duke of Sussex breaking up with former girlfriend Chelsy Davy appeared to be “celebrating” their split and was “hurtful”, Harry told the High Court.
Referencing a private investigator invoice, Harry said the fact that “these payments were referred to as ‘Project Harry’ is incredibly disturbing”.
“The level of surveillance that I was under was quite something,” the duke said.
MGN’s court documents say that it does not know what activities the invoice refers to, whether it relates to the story and it was sourced from a News of the World article on the same day and that there is no evidence of phone hacking.
‘I believe the Mirror Group had Chelsy’s number’
Prince Harry was also asked about an article published in the Sunday People in May 2005 about him having a knee injury and fellow cadets at Sandhurst complaining he was given “preferential treatment” by being let off “gruelling marches”.
The barrister asked if the duke stood by the evidence in his witness statement, in which he said he wasn’t “going around discussing any medical issues or injuries”.
Harry replied: “Yes, it is entirely accurate. That is a reference to while I was at Sandhurst and the distrust that I ended up having … with the medical staff at Sandhurst.”
Mr Green turned to information in the People article about the duke using the computer room at Sandhurst to email his then girlfriend Chelsy Davy and suggested someone at the academy could have seen him doing so.
Harry said: “Unless somebody was watching me specifically for that, no, I don’t believe so.”
Asked if he believed that information came from unlawful information-gathering, the duke replied: “Yes, my lord, I have no idea how anybody would know.”
When asked who was hacked, Harry said: “I believe the Mirror Group had Chelsy’s number at this time.
“I’m not entirely sure my girlfriend would have given Mirror Group her number and also at the time my number was in (journalist) Nick Buckley’s palm pilot, and he was a prolific hacker.”
‘I have never been known for my silence,’ Piers Morgan tells reporters
Piers Morgan told reporters on Wednesday, “I have never been known for my silence,” as he was questioned about Prince Harry’s claim.
His response follows The Duke of Sussex singling him out in the High Court while giving evidence in his case against the Daily Mirror’s publisher on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, Harry faced nearly five hours of questions from a barrister for MGN, as he became the first senior royal in more than two decades to appear personally in court proceedings.
Morgan admitted he could not say much as the case played out but said he would “not be silent when it’s over”.
In his written evidence before the court on Tuesday, Harry said MGN’s alleged intrusion into his life contributed to “a huge amount of paranoia” in his relationships.
In a 49-page witness statement, the duke said that he found it “very hard to trust anyone, which led to bouts of depression and paranoia”.
“Friendships were lost entirely unnecessarily,” he continued, later adding that some of his friends “became instant targets”.
The duke later said that he can now see “how much of my life was wasted on this paranoia”, adding: “I’ve always heard people refer to my mother as paranoid, but she wasn’t.
“She was fearful of what was actually happening to her and now I know that I was the same.”
Andrew Green KC, for MGN, questioned Harry on about 20 of the 33 articles over the course of Tuesday.
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