Harry Wins - Hello Piers Morgan

Why does former Screws and Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan dislike Prince Harry so much? Well, the fact that Haz is the one married to Megs is one part of it, given that Morgan thought he had an entry into the Royal Family but ended up blanked, and not even getting a wedding invite. But the other part has been Harry’s tenacious pursuit of illegal information gathering.

Evening all

The latter led, this morning, to the High Court, where, as the BBC has reported, we also found out why Morgan has a similar dislike for author Omid Scobie. The latter interned at the Mirror titles. And it was the Mirror titles that lost this one. Big Time. “Mr Justice Fancourt says that [Haz’] personal phone was targeted between 2003 and 2009” tells the Beeb. And there was more.

“He says 15 of 33 sample articles were ‘the product of phone hacking … or the product of other unlawful information gathering’ … He rules there was ‘extensive’ phone hacking by Mirror Group Newspapers from 2006 to 2011”. Put another way, that means the hacking continued for around two years after Nick Davies, then at the Guardian, blew the whistle on the practice.

Indeed, the practice continued “‘Even to some extent’ during the Leveson Inquiry into media standards”. It got worse. “Mr Justice Fancourt rules ex-Mirror CEO Sly Bailey knew of hacking and ‘turned a blind eye’ … Mr Justice Fancourt says while the sum [£140,600 in damages] is modest they also reflect the hurt experienced by the Duke of Sussex because of Mirror Group Newspaper's (MGN) concealment of the wrongdoing”.

And worse still. “The judge stresses he found Harry's associates were also unlawfully targeted by MGN”. MGN have held up their hands. “Where historical wrongdoing took place, we apologise unreservedly, have taken full responsibility and paid appropriate compensation”. Now the $64k question.

Which concerns the normally brash and combative Morgan, about whom Scobie had told the court “in 2002 he had witnessed Morgan discuss an article about Kylie Minogue and Morgan, the then editor, had asked the journalist how confident they were about the story. Morgan was told, Scobie recalled, that the source had been a voicemail”. What say the Judge?

And what's more, Ron ...

“Mr Justice Fancourt said that recollection was supported by evidence of an invoice from a private investigator related to obtaining Minogue’s mobile phone number and that of her then partner, James Gooding … [he said] I found Mr Scobie to be a straight-forward and reliable witness and I accept what he said about Mr Morgan’s involvement in the Minogue/Gooding story”.

Worse news for Morgan was that his former employers did not defend Scobie’s claim, the Judge observing “No evidence was called by MGN to contradict it”. Then came the really bad news for TalkTV’s big earner.

The Beeb’s Dominic Casciani noted “Piers Morgan knew about phone hacking - and was involved - when he was editor of the Daily Mirror, the High Court has ruled … In a highly significant part of the judgment, Mr Justice Fancourt lists times when Morgan was said to have been aware of phone hacking - and the evidence had not been contested. He also said that he found evidence about Morgan’s involvement to be credible and it had not been countered by the Mirror Group”. OUCH! There was more.

David Sherborne, representing Haz, said “on behalf of Prince Harry, that the Duke of Sussex 'respectfully calls on authorities, the financial regulator, stock markets… and the Metropolitan Police and prosecuting authorities to do their duty for the British public and investigate bringing charges against the company and those who broke the law’”. So what say Piers Morgan?

So far? Nothing. Nix. Nil. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Not a sausage. Bugger all. No protestations of innocence. No new attacks on Haz and Megs, or indeed, anyone who has brought cases against his former employers, the Murdoch mafiosi, or Associated Newspapers. But he does want you to know that he got great ratings last night. Which just about sums up the press mindset.

But in the real world, the ends did not justify the means. Hello Piers Morgan.

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