Prince Harry’s first victory

The Prince Harry will be able to proceed in the case against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), publisher of, among others, the Daily Mail. This was established by the High Court of London, with the green light for the judicial proceedings which will bring the Duke of Sussex back to the courtroom to be heard next March. Along with the prince, there are other well-known names: Liz Hurley, Elton John and her husband David Furnish, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, Sir Simon Hughes and Sadie Frost, ex-wife of Jude Law. All the appellants pointed out the same thing: they would have been spied on by illicit means.

Prince Harry against the tabloids and Buckingham Palace trembles. Here because
Charles III and his son William would be very worried about the process involving the Mirror and other tabloids because in some cases you never know what direction things could take. The royal family, according to the defence, also encouraged the dissemination of sensitive information about Harry. A potential scandal which, if it exploded, would be very difficult to contain

In October 2022, when the situation began to emerge, the six declared in a note that they had been «victims of abhorrent criminal activity and serious violations of privacy» by Associated Newspapers. Blame the hiring of private investigators to secretly place listening devices inside people’s cars and homes.” The spies, according to the accusation, were instructed “to listen and surreptitiously record people’s private phone calls liveas they unfold”, but they also had “theaccess to bank accounts, credit histories and financial transactions”, illegal practices obtained through illegal means. The ANL denied everything and last March asked the judge to rule in its favor without trial, also due to the delay in starting legal action. The facts, in fact, date back to several years ago and in the United Kingdom there is a six year limit from the facts beyond which it is no longer possible to bring a lawsuit. Lawyers for the prince and others involved, however, argued that new evidence had come to light that they were unaware of at the time, and the judges upheld their line.

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Prince Harry loses the first round against the tabloids: «His statements lack credibility»
The High Court in London has defined an agreement between the NGN group and Buckingham Palace to hack the prince’s mobile phone as “implausible”, but the decision is also based on an out-of-time complaint and some contradictory statements by Harry. The process, however, continues. And the biggest part is yet to come

The High Court’s decision was seen very positively by those who have been fighting for a clearer press in England for years, above all Hugh Grantdirector of the Hacked Off group. «This sentence is a hard blow for the Daily Mail it’s a’Great news for anyone who wants the truth about allegations of illegal printing practices to come out.”, said the actor. This, specifically, is not the only lawsuit brought by Harry against the tabloids, but its outcome could have important consequences, not only for him but for all those who in the past (and perhaps even now) resort to unorthodox methods to obtain scandalous information.

Source: Vanity Fair

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