Great Britain: Cellphone hacking trial – Prince Harry reaches settlement with “Mirror” publisher

As of: 8:47 am| Reading Time: 3 minutes

Brinz Harry has reached an out-of-court settlement with one of the publishers who violated his privacy through phone hacking and other illegal snooping. Harry's lawyer, David Sherborne, said Friday Mirror panel They agreed to cover the prince's legal costs and pay £400,000 (€468,000).

Harry was awarded 140,000 pounds ($177,000) in damages in December after a judge found phone hacking was widespread at Mirror Group newspapers in the 1990s. The managers covered it up. Judge Timothy Fancourt noted that Harry's phone was “only partially” affected.

The Mirror Group said it is delighted with the agreement. This gives more clarity to the publisher so that it can put behind it the events of years ago, for which it has apologized. Harry told the court through his lawyer: “Our work continues.”

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Harry's case against the Mirror Group, which publishes the Daily Mirror and two other tabloids, is one of several brought by the prince against the British media. He accused them of ruining his life and harassing both his late mother Princess Diana and his wife Meghan. Lawsuits are ongoing against the editors of The Sun and Daily Mail newspapers for breach of privacy. Harry recently dropped a libel suit against the Mail's editor after an unfavorable ruling in preliminary proceedings.

Harry took the witness himself

In June, Harry became the first senior member of the royal family to testify in court in more than a century. It was about his complaints about “Mirror”. Harry, Duke of Sussex, was not in the courtroom for Friday's sentencing. She flew to London earlier this week from her home in California, where she lives with her family, to visit her father, Charles III. to visit The king was recently diagnosed with cancer. Almost 24 hours later Harry flew back to America.

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At a High Court hearing on Friday, a judge ordered the Mirror Group to pay part of the legal costs of three other plaintiffs who were tried alongside Harry. Fancourt said all plaintiffs were vindicated by the court's findings of misconduct by Mirror Group. The publisher's efforts to cover up the truth resulted in increased legal costs.

According to the decision, the other three plaintiffs must bear a portion of the Mirror Group's costs in their individual cases. A judge found in December that the privacy of the four plaintiffs had been violated. However, he dismissed cases by actor Nicky Sanderson and comedian Paul Whitehouse's ex-wife Fiona Whiteman because they were filed too late. A lawsuit filed by actor Michael Turner was partially successful.

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Phone hacking of British newspapers has been around for a long time, with journalists regularly calling the phone numbers of members of the royal family and other celebrities. When asked to send a message, they entered preset passwords and listened to voicemails.

It later emerged that newspapers also used other means, such as tapping phones and homes or obtaining details from medical records.