Verdict of Phone Hacking Case: Prince Harry Wins With $180K Compensation
A court awarded the royal $180,000 (140,000 pounds) in damages in his phone-hacking case, giving him an interim victory in his legal battle against British tabloid publisher the Mirror Group. The Mirror Group tabloids accused Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, of hacking his phone and engaging in other illegal activities to obtain private information that could be turned into news stories. He claimed to have been the victim of over 140 instances of unlawful news gathering.
The decision, announced on Friday, December 15, could have far-reaching consequences for the British media. Prince Harry became the first British royal in 130 years to testify in court during the seven-week trial, advising the court that numerous news stories about his personal life, relationships, and family were published in the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, and People between 1995 and 2011 based on illegally obtained information.
The compensation payment is slightly more than half of the 320,000 pounds sought by Harry. Harry claimed he had been the victim of over 140 instances of illegal news gathering. The trial examined the evidence in 33 stories and discovered that 15 of the 33 sample pieces resulted from phone hacking or other unlawful information gathering.
The news comes just days after a court ruled that Harry must pay the Mail on Sunday more than 48,000 pounds ($61,000) in legal fees after losing an attempt to have part of the paper’s defense in a libel case thrown out.
The trial shed light on the shady practices of British tabloids, including former Mirror editor Piers Morgan’s role in widespread phone hacking. Other lawsuits pending against Harry include one against Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers (NGN), the publisher of The Sun and the now-defunct News of the World the tabloids, as well as one against Associated Newspapers, in which accusers include singer Elton John.