Prince Harry lawsuit: Piers Morgan says he had “zero knowledge” of phone hacking at The Daily Mirror

Piers Morgan has denied he knew anything about phone hacking during his time as editor at The Daily Mail after a High Court judge accepted evidence that the former editor did know journalists were involved in the practice. Morgan, now a broadcaster for TalkTV, insisted he had “zero knowledge” of the single article published in his time as editor of the Daily Mirror which may have involved illegal information gathering.

Speaking outside his west London home, Mr Morgan said: “I had then and still have zero knowledge of how that particular story was gathered. I also want to reiterate, as I’ve consistently said for many years now, I’ve never hacked a phone or told anyone else to and nobody has provided any actual evidence to prove that I did.”

Piers Morgan described those giving evidence in the Duke of Sussex’s High Court case as “old foes of mine with an axe to grind”, singling out author Omid Scobie and journalist Alastair Campbell. Morgan told reporters: “I wasn’t called as a witness – it’s important for people to know this – by either side in the case, nor was I asked to provide any statement. I would have very happily agreed to do either or both of those things had I been asked.

“Nor did I have a single conversation with any of the Mirror Group lawyers throughout the entire legal process. So I wasn’t able to respond to the many false allegations that were spewed about me in court by old foes of mine with an axe to grind, most of which, inexplicably, were not even challenged in my absence by the Mirror Group counsel.

“But I know the judge appears to have believed the evidence of Omid Scobie, who lied about me in his new book and he lied about me in court, and the whole world now knows him to be a deluded fantasist. And he believed the evidence of Alastair Campbell, another proven liar who spun this country into an illegal war.”

The Duke of Sussex won £140,600 in damages today (December 15) after bringing a phone hacking claim against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) at the High Court. The 39-year-old sued MGN for damages, claiming journalists at its titles – the Daily and Sunday Mirror and Sunday People – were linked to methods including phone hacking, so-called “blagging” or gaining information by deception, and use of private investigators for unlawful activities.

During the trial, the court heard Omid Scobie did work experience at the Daily Mirror in spring 2002 and overheard Mr Morgan being told that information relating to Kylie Minogue and her then-boyfriend James Gooding had come from voicemails. Mr Justice Fancourt ruled that he accepted the evidence of the biographer. In his judgement he said: “Mr Scobie was pressed hard about the likely veracity of these accounts … I found Mr Scobie to be a straightforward and reliable witness, and I accept what he said about Mr Morgan’s involvement in the Minogue/Gooding story. No evidence was called by MGN to contradict it.”

In a statement on behalf of the Duke of Sussex read outside the court, his lawyer David Sherborne said: “The court had found that the Mirror Group’s principle board directors, their legal department, senior executives, and editors such as Piers Morgan, clearly knew about or were involved in these illegal activities. Between them they even went as far as lying under oath to Parliament during the Leveson Inquiry, to the stock exchange, and to us all ever since."