Mirror Phone Hacking | High Court hearing between MGN and Prince Harry continues this morning

The case between the publisher of the Daily Mirror and a group of plaintiffs, including Prince Harry, is due to continue at London’s High Court today, with Mr Justice Fancourt set to give his final ruling on the costs from 10:30am this morning.

The ruling comes after a judge determined that phone hacking had become “widespread and habitual” at Mirror Group Newspapers and the titles it oversaw in the late 1990s back in December 2023. The courts also believed the practice was still being undertaken “to some extent” in 2011 during the Levinson Inquiry. That inquiry was created to investigate press standards.

In January, the High Court heard that the group of people who sued the publisher were seeking payment of £1,976,660 from MGN towards the legal costs of bringing “generic” allegations, with the presiding judge, Mr Justice Fancourt, concluding that The Duke of Sussex’s phone was hacked “to a modest extent” and awarded him £140,600 in damages.

The Duke of Sussex claimed journalists at MGN publications were using methods including phone hacking, “blagging” (gaining information by deception) and even the use of a private investigator for unlawful practices, leading to his part in a group action against the publisher.

While 33 articles were examined during the trial, where Prince Harry famously took to the witness box, a further 115 articles were also looked over - 15 of which were found to have been created through the use of unlawful information gathering.

After the initial ruling, Prince Harry said his partially successful case against MGN was “a great day for truth, as well as accountability” and called on the police to investigate the publisher of the Daily and Sunday Mirror and The People.

Roger Mallalieu KC, for MGN, told the court the publisher made offers to settle with Harry but the terms were confidential.

The barrister said in written submissions that the group suing the publisher had only seen “partial success on the trial issues” and those who lost their claims should pay their “respective share” of the so-called “generic” costs.

During the legal proceedings, Prince Harry's case was joined with similar claims presented by actor Michael Turner, professionally recognized as Michael Le Vell, renowned for his portrayal of Kevin Webster in Coronation Street, along with actress Nikki Sanderson and Fiona Wightman, the former spouse of comedian Paul Whitehouse.

However, despite some of their grievances being validated by the judge, claims raised by Ms Sanderson and Ms Wightman were ultimately dismissed by Mr Justice Fancourt due to their untimely submission.