“Monumental victory” for victims of press intrusion and call to action following settlement of Prince Harry privacy claim
Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex and former deputy Labour leader Tom Watson have today settled their claims against News Group Newspapers (NGN) the Murdoch-owned publisher of The Sun and now-defunct News of the World newspapers. In their claims, Prince Harry and Lord Watson alleged they were unlawfully targeted by the publisher to obtain their private information, and brought their claims together with a parallel generic case concerning allegations of general and widespread unlawful behaviour and an alleged cover-up by executives and senior editors at NGN.
SETTLEMENT:
In settling the claims, NGN provided a “full and unequivocal apology” to Prince Harry and Lord Watson for the intrusions into their private lives, and notably includes an unprecedented admission of “unlawful activities” at The Sun newspaper. Until today, NGN has always denied unlawful activities have ever taken place at the landmark title.
On the steps of court, David Sherborne, the barrister representing Prince Harry and Lord Watson read out a statement on their behalf, describing how “In a monumental victory today, News UK have admitted that The Sun, the flagship title for Rupert Murdoch’s UK media empire, has indeed engaged in illegal practices”. He described how this represented a “vindication” for the hundreds of other claimants who had “strong-armed” into settling their cases before they could be heard at trial.
NGN FINALLY HELD TO ACCOUNT:
Sherborne described how NGN had “finally been held to account for its illegal actions and its blatant disregard for the law” and called on Parliament and the police to investigate the illegal activity. Sherborne further detailed how the senior executives at the newspaper group “deliberately obstructed justice” by deleting over 30 billion emails, destroying back up tapes and making false denials and “repeatedly lied under oath”, both in court and at the Leveson Inquiry.
“Today the lies are laid bare. Today, the cover-ups are exposed. And today proves that no one stands above the law. The time for accountability has arrived”, said the statement.
STATEMENT BY LORD WATSON
Lord Watson then read his own statement, which described how Prince Harry’s “bravery and astonishing courage” had brought accountability to the part of the media world that previously thought it was untouchable.
In a final call to action, Lord Watson described how the Claimants were preparing a dossier for the Met Police and asked Met Police Commissions Sir Mark Rowley, “will the MPS act?”. Lord Watson finished his statement with a question for the Prime Minister: “I know you care deeply about the fairness of the law, but are we willing to continue as a country where some corporate entities are above the law and out of the reach of the police?”
For more information:
Taylor Hampton has been involved in the phone hacking trial litigation since its inception and has represented numerous Claimants in their claims against NGN and other publishers. Cases in which the firm was involved led to the closure of the News of the World. For more information about Taylor Hampton’s media practice, call +44207 427 5970 or contact us at [email protected].