Prince Harry and six other claimants have lost their High Court privacy case against the publisher of the Daily Mail, after a judge ruled they had failed to prove allegations of unlawful information gathering.
Mr Justice Nicklin, in a 436-page written judgment, dismissed all 97 allegations made by the group – which included Sir Elton John, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, Liz Hurley, David Furnish, Sadie Frost and Sir Simon Hughes – against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL). The newspaper publisher had strenuously denied the claims, which covered landline tapping and obtaining information through deception.
“Prince Harry loses High Court case against Daily Mail publisher; judge dismisses all 97 unlawful information-gathering claims.”
“Whilst the standard of proof remains the balance of probabilities, the more serious, and inherently less probable, the allegation, the more cogent the evidence required to prove it,” the judge said. He added that the claimants’ case had invited the court to conclude that because information was private and ANL could not explain how it was sourced, the article must have been unlawfully sourced – a reasoning he rejected.
The ruling ends a four-year legal battle that began when the claim form was filed on 6 October 2022. The trial at the Royal Courts of Justice started on 19 January and lasted 45 days, with closing arguments completed by 31 March. Legal costs have been estimated at up to £38m.
In a joint statement issued shortly after the ruling, Prince Harry and Baroness Lawrence called the decision a “complete and obvious whitewash”. The Duke of Sussex had earlier told the court of the personal impact of the alleged wrongdoing, but the judge found that neither he nor the other claimants had proven their case.
Associated Newspapers described the outcome as “magnificent vindication of the Daily Mail’s journalism”. The newspaper’s defence, which included testimony from veteran crime correspondent Stephen Wright – who said he was “devastated” by the allegation he targeted Baroness Lawrence with surveillance – was accepted by the court.
Prince Harry has been involved in the phone-hacking saga since 2007, when police discovered his phone had been hacked by private investigator Glenn Mulcaire. That led to a Guardian investigation in 2009 and the eventual closure of the News of the World. But this latest defeat marks a significant setback for the prince’s long-running war with the press. His lawyers have not yet indicated whether they will appeal.
