Why Prince Harry’s lawyer thinks Piers Morgan’s no-show could be fatal to Mirror case

Earlier this month, London’s High Court heard evidence from Prince Harry, Coronation Street’s Michael Turner and Nikki Sanderson in their case against the Mirror News Group as part of the 100 claimants who are suing their publications for alleged phone hacking.

After each shared their stories about how certain articles had impacted their lives and evidenced unlawful information gathering, for example comedian Paul Whitehouse’s ex-wife Fiona Wightman’s being hounded by journalists about her ovarian cancer diagnosis, Prince Harry’s lawyer David Sherborne delivered the final punches yesterday.

The 53-year-old barrister told the court that MGN titles the Mirror, Sunday Mirror and the People showed ‘habitual and widespread’ unlawful information gathering such as voicemail interception and ‘blagging’ from 1991 to 2011.

As David Sherborne continued his closing statements, it is crucial to mention that throughout the court case thus far, witnesses who took to the stand, both claimants and defendants, were quick to mention one man in particular who served as editor from 1995 to 2004 - Mr Piers Morgan.

The former Good Morning Britain presenter was not brought into court by MGN despite allegations surfacing that he not only ‘knew how to hack phones’ but had an invested interest in stories about Prince Harry, as the group believed his alleged knowledge of phone hacking was irrelevant.

In light of this, David Sherborne suggested that the lack of evidence on Piers Morgan’s side leaves ‘fatal holes in the defendant’s case’ as he ‘chose to confine his comments to outside the courtroom.’

David was referring to Piers Morgan’s response to Prince Harry’s criticisms about the former editor’s reported ‘earwigging’ by suggesting that he would have to learn about the Duke’s privacy campaign in his ‘next book’.

Even the presiding judge Mr Justice Fancourt queried whether there were some who ‘could have and should have’ spoken in court as he also remarked about Piers Morgan’s out of court comments.

Significantly, the Uncensored host’s in-court silence also raises questions about his previous assistance with the Leveson Inquiry in 2011. According to ByLineInvestigates, a legal source stated: “If the Claimants prove their case at the trial, there would no doubt be calls to investigate Piers’ evidence to the inquiry, which would then be called into question. If the evidence was anything less than the truth, it could have very serious ramifications for him.”

While Piers continues to deny any wrongdoing, the controversial presenter scooped a prize at last night’s TRIC Awards for his interview with Cristiano Ronaldo.

Other winners included Nigel Farage and the late Paul O’Grady as the likes of Holly Willoughby and Dan Walker were snubbed.