Prince Harry has been challenged on the witness stand about whether he has any evidence The Mirror Group newspapers had actually illegally obtained information in a fiery court appearance.
On Tuesday, the Duke of Sussex told the High Court in London about an “awful” visit he made to Australia 20 years ago during a gap year.
“The whole purpose of me avoiding the cameras was to avoid everyone knowing what I was doing … it was suffocating … this is the kind of thing I would have moaned about over the phone and in voicemails,” he said.
One of the articles he complains about in his legal action against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) was a visit with friends to a public beach in Noosa.
Harry said the article caused “distress” because it showed there was “nowhere in the world, not even the Australian outback, where I wouldn’t be hounded by the press or paparazzi’’.
Andrew Green, the barrister representing MGN, was quick to point out that the stories Harry refers to appeared in other British tabloid newspapers, suggesting the leads were not obtained through illicit means.
Mr Green pointed to articles published by The Sun, The Daily Mail, The Daily Telegraph, and other outlets to suggest that the Daily Mirror had not engaged in illicit practices to write the story.
Harry conceded he could see “similarities” between some of these stories.
When asked why he had not launched complaints about the outlets that first put the stories into the public domain, the Duke of Sussex said he had not been made aware of each of them.
Mr Green quizzed Harry on several occasions to specify whose phone he believes was hacked to obtain private information.
Each time, the royal told Mr Green he would have to “ask the journalists” if they had engaged in phone hacking.
“I don't believe as a witness it's my job to construct the article or instruct which parts were unlawfully obtained or weren't, the journalist should be doing that,” Harry sensationally told the court.
Later, Harry accepted that a palace spokesperson had issued a statement about his Australian activities and the information had also appeared in other national daily newspapers.
However, he declined to accept that the information for another of the MGN articles came from his own camp or his palace aide Mark Dyer.
Mr Dyer has previously been described as a “surrogate father” to Harry and mentored the young royal following the death of his mother Princess Diana in 1997.
The crux of Harry’s case against MGN and other tabloid publishers is their alleged use of illegal information gathering tactics, such as hacking into the voice mails of high-profile celebrities and buying private financial information from third parties.
The Duke of Sussex will return to the witness stand on Wednesday morning local time for further cross examination.
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMivAFodHRwczovL3d3dy5za3luZXdzLmNvbS5hdS93b3JsZC1uZXdzL3lvdWxsLWhhdmUtdG8tYXNrLXRoZS1qb3VybmFsaXN0cy10aGUtdHJ1dGgtYWJvdXQtcHJpbmNlLWhhcnJ5cy1hd2Z1bC12aXNpdC10by1hdXN0cmFsaWEtcmV2ZWFsZWQtaW4tY291cnQvbmV3cy1zdG9yeS8yNDhkNmJkMzAwZGQxNDQ1YjIzMjZlMmRkM2Q0YjgyY9IBAA?oc=5
2023-06-07 02:02:04Z
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