Prince Harry's lawyer seeks $2.5 million from UK publisher in phone hacking case

The case was one of the several cases Prince Harry is fighting against tabloids in the UK.

A lawyer representing Prince Harry on Monday appealed to a judge to order the publisher of the Daily Mirror tabloid to pay nearly 2 million pounds for a portion of the legal fees spent to prove that the newspapers of Mirror Group invaded his privacy by hacking his phone and resorting to other unlawful means to dig up scoops on him, AP reported.

Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex walks outside the Rolls Building of the High Court in London on June 7, 2023. (Reuters)

In a major win, Prince Harry last month was paid 140,000 pounds ($178,000) in damages after the judge found that phone hacking was “widespread and habitual” at Mirror newspapers and executives at the papers covered it up.

Harry had alleged that journalists from The Mirror, The Sunday Mirror and The Sunday People tabloids targeted him and those part of his inner circle by gaining access to his voicemails and using other unlawful methods over the years, causing him “considerable distress.”

The case was one of the several cases Prince Harry is fighting against tabloids in the UK.

Monday's hearing was over the legal fees for a trial that involved Harry as one of four claimants, including two members of Britain's longest-running TV soap opera, “Coronation Street,” who accused Mirror of hacking their phones and hiring private investigators to unlawfully gather information about their lives, according to AP.

The judge found the privacy of all four claimants had been violated but he tossed out cases brought by actor Nikki Sanderson and Fiona Wightman as they were filed too late. He awarded actor Michael Turner 31,000 pounds.

Attorney David Sherborne, Prince Harry's lawyer, argued that his case was “overwhelmingly successful" and his clients should be reimbursed legal fees because Mirror "advanced a fundamentally dishonest case."

Justice Timothy Fancourt indicated he would rule at a later date.

What is Prince Harry's phone-hacking case?

The lawsuit, joined by approximately 100 other claimants, including actors, sports figures, celebrities, and individuals connected to high-profile personalities, revolves around allegations of phone-hacking and unlawful information-gathering spanning from 1991 to 2011. The claimants assert that senior editors and executives at MGN were aware of and endorsed these illicit activities. In response, MGN, owned by Reach, disputes the allegations, stating that they lack evidence support.

Prince Harry, the younger son of King Charles, was chosen as one of the four test cases for the trial that commenced in May. In his pursuit of justice, he is seeking damages amounting to up to £320,000 ($405,000) for 33 articles scrutinised during the trial, along with an additional £120,000 for 61 instances of alleged unlawful information-gathering.

MGN has acknowledged that private investigators were directed to unlawfully collect information about three individuals, including Harry, who were part of the test cases. The publisher issued an unreserved apology and conceded that Prince Harry is entitled to £500 in compensation. However, MGN denied any further wrongdoing concerning him.

The illicit practice of phone hacking, involving the unauthorised interception of voicemails on mobile phones, gained public attention in 2006 when the then-royal editor of the News of the World (NoW) tabloid and a private investigator were arrested. Subsequently, they pleaded guilty and were incarcerated in 2007.

In 2011, additional revelations surfaced, exposing the targeting of a murdered schoolgirl, prompting Rupert Murdoch to shut down the paper and initiate a criminal trial. In 2014, Andy Coulson, the former editor of NoW who later served under Prime Minister David Cameron, was found guilty of conspiracy to hack phones and was sentenced to jail. Rebekah Brooks, leading News Corp's UK operation, was acquitted of all charges.

Initially, the Mirror group consistently denied its journalists' involvement in hacking, even during a public inquiry. However, in 2014, it admitted liability. Since then, MGN has resolved over 600 claims, incurring a cost of approximately £106 million in damages and costs, with £55 million reportedly going to the claimants' lawyers.