By Ben Kerrigan And Sheila Mckenzie-
In a dramatic hearing at the High Court, the court heard Prince Harry’s accusation against Piers Morgan of intimidating him and his wife as a result of the claims he was bringing against the Mirror Group.
The duke of sussex accused Morgan of subjecting him and his wife, Meghan, to a barrage of horrific personal attacks and intimidation as a result of the legal proceedings he has brought against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), the High Court has heard.
AD: Capeesh Restaurant
Harry made it clear he was intent on holding Morgan to account for alleged hacking of his mother during the period when he was editor of the Mirror as he expressed a strong sense of victimisation against the former Daily Mirror editor and ex Good Morning Britain presenter.
In his witness statement, Harry said: “Unfortunately, as a consequence of me bringing my Mirror Group claim, both myself and my wife have been subjected to a barrage of horrific personal attacks and intimidation from Piers Morgan, who was the editor of the Daily Mirror between 1995 and 2004, presumably in retaliation and in the hope that I will back down, before being able to hold him properly accountable for his unlawful activity towards both me and my mother during his editorship.”
Harry added in another segment of his statement that the thought of Mr Morgan and Mirror journalists “earwigging” into his mother’s private messages made him “physically sick”.
AD: Oysterian Sea Food Restaurant And Bar
In his 55-page witness statement, Prince Harry rounded the tabloid press when he asked: “How much more blood will stain their typing fingers before someone can put a stop to this madness?”
The Duke of Sussex is suing Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) for damages, claiming journalists at its titles, including the Sunday Mirror and Sunday People, were linked to methods including phone hacking, so-called “blagging” or gaining information by deception, and use of private investigators for unlawful activities.
He added that the press articles in the press caused him to be “paranoid” and to “distrust” his friend.
He was responding to Andrew Green, the lawyer for MGN, asked Harry about his allegations that certain articles published by the Daily Mirror “caused him to be paranoid and to distrust those around him.”
The duke of sussex accused the press of causing him to lose close friends following suspicions he had that they had leaked stories about him to the press.
Harry said he had been “made aware” of many of the articles “unfortunately, by the behaviour and reaction of my inner circle.”
The duke said when information he had shared in confidence with only a few members of his inner circle entered the public domain, “your circle of friends starts to shrink.”
The duke was asked by Andrew Green about whether an article published by the Daily Mirror about how the young prince had responded to his parents’ divorce contained information which may have been “indicative of phone hacking.”
Green was referring to an article published on September 16, 1996, with the headline “Diana so sad on Harry’s big day,” according to the prince’s written evidence.
The article contained details of his mother, Diana, the Princess of Wales, coming to visit the prince at Ludgrove school on his 12th birthday, and included details about how long she spent at the school with him.
Harry told the court that some of the details in the piece “seemed incredibly suspicious.”
However, Green pressed the prince on whether a member of the press – knowing the date of the Prince’s birthday – could have visited the school on this date and learned details of the Princess of Wales’ visit by witnessing her entering and exiting.
You’re not suggesting, are you, that this sentence (in the article) is indicative of phone hacking?” Green asked Prince Harry. No decisive answer came from the duke.
The article in question also claimed that Harry was responding to his parents’ divorce “badly.”
“I think it’s quite ironic for the Defendant’s journalists to be remarking on how difficult I was finding this period, when articles like this, and the conduct of the press, including the Defendant’s journalists, contributed to that feeling,” Harry said in his written evidence.
Among the numerous questions presented to Harry by MGN barrister Andrew Green were the Duke of Sussex’s objections to a Daily Mirror article published in March 2002, headlined “Harry’s sick with ‘kissing disease’” – a story about his contracting glandular fever.
The article “reported that doctors had confirmed the diagnosis following a blood test some two weeks prior, that I would have symptoms for at least six weeks and that I had been teased by my friends and brother,” according to Harry’s witness statement.
“The article is accurate in that I was diagnosed with glandular fever at this time, however I’m not sure how anyone outside of my immediate family knew this. I didn’t tell anyone as I was ashamed of having contracted it,” the statement added.
Green sought to discredit Harry’s take by quoting to Harry a statement from a St. James’s Palace spokeswoman before the article was published, which said: “I can confirm that he [Harry] has glandular fever and is taking doctor’s advice.
When asked why he had objected to the article published by the Daily Mirror, but not to other “similar” articles about the same event, published in The Sun and Edinburgh Evening News, among other outlets
An interesting point of the cross examination came when Harry was questioned about his drug taking being reported in the press. Green commented that it was in the public interest for that fact to be reported, to which he responded that ”being in the public interest is different to the public finding something interesting
Prince Harry later claimed that the “thousands” of articles published about him since he was young played a “destructive role” during his childhood and adolescence.
Harry said that he “certainly saw a lot of articles at the time,” and that he was “made aware” of many more that had been written about him.
However, Harry said that he could not recall specific articles that caused him distress.
“Because it’s 20 years ago, I can’t speculate,” he said.
AD: Heritage And Restaurant Lounge Bar