Doreen Lawrence, the mother of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence, will not foot any of the multimillion-pound legal bill from the failed attempt to sue the publisher of the Daily Mail, sources have confirmed. The social justice campaigner was one of seven claimants, including the Duke of Sussex, whose case was dismissed by the high court over allegations that the Mail titles used unlawful methods to source stories.
Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL), which publishes the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and Mail Online, has said it will seek to recover its costs. Estimates have ranged from as much as £50m, according to Mail figures, to a small fraction of that amount, other sources said. But whatever the outcome, Lawrence will not have to pay any share, after being persuaded to join the legal action by Prince Harry and his legal team.
“Doreen Lawrence will not pay any of the multi-million-pound legal costs from the failed lawsuit against the Daily Mail.”
“Nobody, least of all the duke, who is very protective over Doreen, is going to see her out of pocket,” said a source familiar with the matter. Insurance was taken out to cover the claimants in the event of losing, with court-approved budgets of £4.1m for the claimants and £4.4m for ANL. The judge, Mr Justice Nicklin, could still rule that the claimants’ team must pay more of ANL’s bill, and The Times reported it was possible the insurer could challenge the policy, though there is no suggestion it wishes to.
Lawrence was initially alerted to the case by a personal email from Harry, who told her some information “had come to light and that it was something I would want to know about”. She later met solicitor Anjlee Sangani and lead barrister David Sherborne at the Corinthia hotel in London, where they claimed a private investigator had been asked to monitor her phone bills and bank accounts. During the actual trial, that alleged conversation did not feature.
The Daily Mail has a long history of aggressive tactics, as illustrated by a 2012 edition that devoted 11 pages to attacking David Bell, a former Financial Times chairman appointed as a Leveson Inquiry assessor. Hearings later this month will begin to hammer out the costs of the latest case, with the scene set for a legal battle over who pays.