Prince Harry gets apology, big settlement from Murdoch’s UK tabloids over hack – National
Prince Harry scored a major victory on Wednesday as Rupert Murdoch’s UK tabloids apologized in an unprecedented way for decades of prying into his life and agreed to pay huge damages to settle an invasion of privacy lawsuit.
News Group Newspapers has offered “a full and unequivocal apology to the Duke of Sussex for The Sun’s malicious interference between 1996 and 2011 in his private life,” Harry’s lawyer, David Sherborne, read in a statement to the court.
This statement even went beyond the trial to admit to entering the life of Harry’s mother, the late Princess Diana and the impact it had on her family.
“We acknowledge and apologize for the distress caused to Duke, as well as the damage caused to relationships, friendships and family, and have agreed to pay him substantial damages,” the settlement statement said.
His phone was hacked and he was searched
It was the first time the News Group had admitted that something was wrong with Solezwe, a paper that once sold millions of copies with its formula of sports, celebrities and sex – including topless women on page 3.
Harry had vowed to take his case to court to expose the wrongdoing of the newspaper and win a court decision in favor of his claims.
FILE – News Corp Chief Executive Officer. Rupert Murdoch delivers the keynote address at the National Conference on Education Reform in San Francisco, Oct. 14, 2011.
AP Photo/Noah Berger, File
In a statement read by his lawyer, Harry said he had received the accountability he and hundreds of other people, including ordinary people, were looking for.
The News Group acknowledged the “hacking of phones, surveillance and misuse of confidential information by journalists and private investigators” targeting Harry. NGN had strongly denied those allegations before the trial.
“This represents the vindication of hundreds of other claimants who were armed to the teeth to resolve their issues without having to find out the truth about what was done to them,” Sherborne said outside London’s High Court.
The wrong is blamed on the top
The tense announcement came after the trial was adjourned as last-minute negotiations raged outside court.
Harry, 40, the youngest son of King Charles III, and Tom Watson, a former Labor Party MP, were the only two left of more than 1,300 others who had settled charges against News Group Newspapers over alleged hacking of their phones. and investigators intrude into their lives.
The company engaged in “lies and cover-ups” to hide the truth for years, deleting 30 million emails and other records, Harry and Watson said in a joint statement read by Sherborne.
“There was a massive conspiracy,” the statement said, in which “senior officials deliberately obstructed justice.”
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The News Group said in a statement that it will be arguing in court that the evidence was dismissed and continues to deny those allegations.
Although the News Group issued an unreserved apology for its actions against the closed News of the World newspaper, it had never done so in Solezwe and denied those allegations.
The statement read by Sherborne refers to Rebekah Brooks, now the CEO who oversees the News Group, who was the editor of Solezwe when he was acquitted of the criminal case in the phone hacking case.
“At her trial in 2014, Rebekah Brooks said, ‘When I was editor of The Sun, we had a clean ship,'” he said. “Ten years later when he was CEO of the company, they now admit that when he was editor of The Sun, they ran a criminal business.”
NGN apologized for doing wrong to the private eyes employed by the Sun, but not for anything done by its journalists.
Two cases down, one to go
Of all the charges brought against a publisher since the infamous phone hacking scandal that forced Murdoch to shut down the News of the World in 2011, Harry’s is the closest to a trial.
Murdoch closed the newspaper after the Guardian reported that in 2002 the newspaper’s journalists hacked the phone of Milly Dowler, the 13-year-old schoolgirl who was killed, while police were looking for her.
Harry’s case against NGN was one of three he brought accusing British newspapers of violating his privacy by wiretapping or using private investigators to illegally help them obtain information.
His case against the publisher of the Daily Mirror was finally successful when a judge ruled that phone hacking was “widespread and routine” at the newspaper and its sister publications.
During that trial in 2023, Harry became the first senior member of the royal family to testify in court since the late 19th century, putting him at odds with the royals’ desire to keep their problems out of the spotlight.
The outcome in the News Group case raises questions about how his third case – against the publisher of the Daily Mail – will proceed. That trial is scheduled for next year.
A source of bitter conflict
Harry’s conflict with the media dates back to his youth, when the tabloids enjoyed reporting on everything from his abuse of his girlfriends to his drug use.
But his resentment of the tabloids runs much deeper.
He blames the media for the death of his mother, who died in a car accident in 1997 while being chased by paparazzi in Paris. He also blames them for the ongoing attacks on his wife, actress Meghan Markle, which led to her leaving the royal life and fleeing to the US in 2020.
Princess Diana and Prince Harry in 1995.
Photo: Julian Parker/UK Press via Getty Images
The case has been a source of tension in his family, Harry said in the document Tabloids On Trial.
He stated in court documents that his father is opposing his case. He also said that his older brother William, the Prince of Wales and heir to the throne, had settled a private complaint against the News Group that his lawyer said was worth more than one million pounds ($1.23 million).
“I’m doing this for my own reasons,” Harry told the documentary makers, although he said he wished his family had joined him.
Harry and another prize
Harry was originally one of several plaintiffs, including actor Hugh Grant, who alleged that News Group reporters and investigative staff breached their privacy between 1994 and 2016 by intercepting voicemails, tapping phones, breaking into cars and using deception to gain access to classified information.
In the first group of plaintiffs, Harry and ex-lawyer Tom Watson were the defendants.
FILE – Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive at the United Nations headquarters, July 18, 2022.
AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File
Watson, who was targeted by NGN when he was part of an investigation into allegations of dishonesty in documents, said the hacking had traumatized him and his family.
“I once said that the big animals of the tabloid jungle have no predators,” Watson said. “I was wrong, they have Prince Harry. … We thank him for his unwavering support and determination under great pressure.”
Watson, who also received an apology and a substantial settlement, called on Murdoch to apologize to Harry, the king and “countless others” affected by the tabloid.
The News Group said the settlement marks the end of litigation more than a decade after the closure of the News of the World.
NGN has now settled more than 1,300 claims without going to court. In doing so, it has spent more than 1 billion pounds ($1.24 billion) in settlements and legal fees, Harry and Watson said in a statement.
