Prince Harry and the publisher of the Daily Mirror newspaper have settled the remainder of his hacking claim against them.
It follows a High Court judge’s ruling in December that phone hacking by Mirror Group Newspapers was carried out from 1996 to 2011, and was “widespread and habitual” from 1998.
Judge Timothy Fancourt also said that phone hacking continued “to some extent” during the Leveson Inquiry into media standards in 2011 and 2012, and concluded that Harry‘s phone was hacked “to a modest extent” by MGN – awarding him £140,600 in damages.
At a hearing to determine costs on Friday, Harry’s lawyer David Sherborne said the publisher had now accepted it would pay “a substantial additional sum” by way of damages and the duke’s legal costs.
Harry, who made a surprise appearance at the NFL Honours in Las Vegas on Thursday night after flying to the UK earlier in the week following the King’s cancer diagnosis, was not in court for the hearing.
His case against the publisher was “proved in part” during a privacy trial last year, with 15 of the 33 articles presented in court found to be the product of phone hacking or other unlawful information gathering.
However, a further 115 articles in his claim could have led to a further trial had a settlement not been reached.
During the costs hearing, Mr Sherborne said the publisher would make an interim payment of £400,000.
After the settlement was announced in court, an MGN spokesperson said: “We are pleased to have reached this agreement, which gives our business further clarity to move forward from events that took place many years ago and for which we have apologised.”
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Key findings in the Harry v MGN judgment
Harry’s case was heard alongside similar claims brought by actor Michael Turner, who is known professionally as Michael Le Vell and is most famous for playing Kevin Webster in Coronation Street, Hollyoaks and former Coronation Street actress Nikki Sanderson, and Fiona Wightman, the ex-wife of comedian Paul Whitehouse.
Claims brought by Ms Sanderson and Ms Wightman were dismissed by the judge because they were made too late, despite the judge finding that some of their complaints were proved.
As well as the “representative” claims brought by the duke and the three others, the trial last year also heard “generic” evidence about wider alleged wrongdoing at MGN.
During Friday’s hearing, Mr Justice Fancourt said the publisher should pay so-called “generic” legal costs to those currently involved in the legal action against MGN.
“On the generic issues, there can be little doubt that the claimants were successful,” he said. “In this unusual case, justice is only done by awarding the claimants their costs of the generic issues.”
The final figure of costs is yet to be assessed, but the High Court in London heard the group of people who sued the publisher were currently seeking payment of around £1.9 million from MGN towards the legal costs of bringing those allegations to court.
Ms Sanderson and Ms Wightman should pay MGN the legal costs of defending their individual claims, the judge ruled on Friday, while Mr Turner should pay MGN’s costs of responding to his claim from the date of March 5 2022, after an offer was made.
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