Harry Humiliates Mirror - And Morgan

Hot on the heels of former Screws and Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan having his piss-poor show cancelled by the Murdoch mafiosi in another round of cost-cutting at broadcast media noise floor occupant TalkTV has come the news that Morgan’s former manor, the Mirror titles, have been given what The Italian Job’s Mr Bridger might have called A Good Going Over.

Evening all

Worse for The Great Man, this has been dealt out by someone Morgan hates with a passion: along with his legal team, the Duke of Sussex has concluded his lawsuit against Reach, the current owners of the Mirror, very much to his satisfaction and on his terms. As Press Gazette has reported, “Prince Harry has settled the remaining parts of his phone hacking claim against the publisher of the Daily Mirror, the High Court has heard”. There was more.

“The Duke of Sussex, 39, sued Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) for damages, claiming journalists at its publications were linked to methods including phone hacking, so-called ‘blagging’ - gaining information by deception - and use of private investigators for unlawful activities”. And more.

“In December, a judge ruled that phone hacking became ‘widespread and habitual’ at MGN titles in the late 1990s and was practised ‘even to some extent’ during the Leveson Inquiry into press standards in 2011 … Thirty-three articles in Harry’s claim were examined during the trial last year, with 15 articles found to have been the product of unlawful information gathering”.

And then comes the bad news for the Mirror: “A further 115 articles were in his claim, which may have been the subject of a further trial … However, during a hearing in London on Friday, his barrister David Sherborne confirmed a settlement had been reached between the duke and MGN”.

It had? “Sherborne said the publisher will pay Harry ‘a substantial additional sum by way of damages’ as well as his legal costs, and that it would make an interim payment of £400,000”. To which Byline Investigates added “Earlier in the hearing this morning at the High Court, the judge ordered MGN to pay around £2 million for losing the 'generic' part of the case about systemic crime and lies at the paper between 1998 -2011”. Ouch! And it gets worse.

And what's more, Ron ...

Harry’s statement told “Everything we said was happening at Mirror Group was in fact happening, and indeed, far worse, as the court ruled in an extremely damaging judgment. As the judge has said only this morning, we have uncovered and proved the shockingly dishonest way in which the Mirror acted for so many years, and then sought to conceal the truth”.

And then came the burn. “Harry, via Sherborne, said Morgan ‘knew perfectly well what was going on’ and that his “contempt for the court’s ruling and his continued attacks ever since demonstrate why it was so important to obtain a clear and detailed judgment”. Remember that the Mirror’s lawyers declined to call Morgan as a witness. Could be something to do with unreliability.

Moreover, it’s not over yet: as the BBC report has noted, “the prince vowed to continue his ‘mission’ to shine a light on press intrusion ‘through to the end’”, adding “he didn’t come for the money - he came for vindication and now has his sights on Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Daily Mail, and News Group newspapers, which publishes the Sun”. Mail and Sun, eh?

Remember that when those titles splash another round of bad faith smears against Haz and Megs. Remember that Morgan used to be an “editor at large” for Mail Online, and that his deal to front the now defunct Piers Morgan Uncensored was reckoned to result in him trousering a cool fifty million from the Murdoch mafiosi. And don’t forget what campaigning group Hacked Off have told us about possible ramifications from the Harry v Mirror action.

Like this part of Harry’s statement: “It is now for the police to pursue charges of perjury against any senior employees or ex-employees at the publisher who misled the first part of the Leveson Inquiry in their denials of knowledge of phone hacking”. Maybe aimed at the Mirror. And the Mail. And the Sun.

Why does our free and fearless press keep hating on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex? You might wish to ask that. I couldn’t possibly comment.

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