Prince Harry claimed a major victory on Wednesday as Rupert Murdoch’s UK tabloid made an unprecedented apology for intruding into his life for decades and agreed to pay substantial damages to settle his privacy invasion lawsuit.
The news group’s newspapers issued a “full and unequivocal apology to the Duke of Sussex for this serious intrusion”. Sun In his private life between 1996 and 2011,” Harry’s lawyer David Sherbourne read a statement in court.
The statement goes beyond the scope of the case and also acknowledges the intrusion into the life of Harry’s mother, the late Princess Diana, and the impact it has had on her family.
“We acknowledge and apologize for the distress the Dukes have caused and the harm they have caused to relationships, friendships and family, and have agreed to pay them substantial damages,” the settlement statement said.
His phone was hacked and he was spied on
This was the first time the news group has admitted wrongdoing. SunA newspaper that once sold millions of copies with its formula of sports, celebrities and sex – including topless women on Page 3.
Harry vowed to take his case to trial to publicly expose the newspaper’s wrongdoings and win a court ruling upholding his claims.
In a statement read by his lawyer, Harry claimed he had secured the accountability he sought for himself and hundreds of others, including ordinary people, who were spied on.
The news group acknowledged phone hacking, surveillance and misuse of private information by journalists and private investigators targeting Harry. The news group had strongly denied those allegations before the trial.
“This represents a vindication for the hundreds of other claimants who were prepared to settle without knowing the truth of what was done to them,” Sherborne said outside the High Court in London.
accused of wrongdoing at the top
The bombshell announcement came as the start of the trial was adjourned for a day as last-minute settlement talks heated up outside the court.
Harry, 40, the younger son of King Charles III, and Tom Watson, a former Labor MP, were the only two remaining claimants among more than 1,300 others who have settled a lawsuit against News Group newspapers over allegations that their phones were hacked. And investigators illegally intruded into their lives.
In a joint statement read by Sherbourne, Harry and Watson said the company engaged in “lying and concealment” to hide the truth for years, deleting 30 million emails and other records.
“There was a widespread conspiracy,” the statement said, in which “senior officials deliberately obstructed justice.”
The news group said in a statement that it would dispute at trial that evidence was destroyed and that it continues to deny those allegations.
While the news group had issued an unconditional apology for its wrongdoing in the shutdown world newsthis was never done Sun And those allegations were completely denied.
The statement read by Sherbourne took aim at Rebekah Brooks, who is now CEO overseeing the news group, having been an editor. Sun When he was acquitted from the criminal case in the phone hacking case.
“At her trial in 2014, Rebekah Brooks said, ‘When I was the editor Sun‘We ran a clean ship,” he said. ‘After ten years when she was CEO of the company, they now acknowledge that when she was editor Sun“They ran a criminal enterprise.”
News group apologizes for wrongdoing by private staff hired SunBut not for any work done by its journalists.
Two cases closed, one closed
All the cases have been brought against the publisher since Murdoch was forced to close down following a widespread phone hacking scandal. world news In 2011, Harry’s case came closest to going to trial.
Murdoch later closed the newspaper Guardian Tabloid journalists were reported to have hacked the phone of 13-year-old schoolgirl Millie Dowler in 2002 while police were searching for her.
Harry’s case against the news group was one of three in which he accused British tabloids of violating his privacy by spying on phone messages or using private investigators to help him illegally.
His case against the publisher of daily Mirror It ended in victory when the judge ruled that phone hacking was “widespread and habitual” 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 monarchy’s willingness to ignore its problems.
The outcome of the News Group case raises questions about how its third case – against the publisher of daily Mail – will proceed. That trial is scheduled for next year.
source of bitter feud
Harry’s feud with the press dates back to his youth, when newspapers delighted in reporting on everything from his injuries to his taking drugs with girlfriends.
But his anger towards newspapers runs much deeper.
He blames the media for the death of his mother, who died in a car accident while being pursued by paparazzi in Paris in 1997. He also blames her for his continued attacks on his wife, actor Meghan Markle, which led her to leave royal life and flee to the United States in 2020.
In the documentary “Tabuloids on Trial”, Harry said that the trial had been a source of discord in his family.
He revealed in court papers that his father had opposed his lawsuit. He also said that his older brother, William, Prince of Wales and heir to the throne, had settled a private complaint against the news group, which his lawyer said was worth 1 million pounds ($1.23 million ) was more than.
“I’m doing this for my own reasons,” Harry told the documentary makers, although he added that he would like his family to join him.
Harry was originally one of dozens of claimants, including actor Hugh Grant, who alleged that the news group’s journalists and the investigators they hired used extortionist tactics between 1994 and 2016 by intercepting voice mail, tapping phones, bugging cars and Had their privacy violated by using deception to access confidential information.
