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Prince Harry has been awarded £140,600 in damages after the High Court found he was the victim of unlawful information gathering by Mirror Group Newspapers.
Mr Justice Fancourt said on Friday there had been the “widespread” use of unlawful practices at the tabloid publisher, including phone hacking and “blagging” of private information.
Phone hacking was “an important tool” for the Mirror, the Sunday Mirror and The People and was even used during the Leveson Inquiry into press standards, Fancourt found.
Prince Harry alleged, along with three other claimants, that the media group unlawfully gathered information over a period of almost 20 years.
Fifteen of 33 articles Prince Harry complained about were the product of phone hacking or other unlawful information gathering, the judge found.
Sly Bailey, the company’s former chief executive, and ex-group legal director Paul Vickers knew about phone hacking at the newspapers, he said.
The ruling on Friday will be watched closely by other media groups. King Charles III’s youngest son has three parallel legal cases claiming phone hacking and other illegal behaviour by British newspapers.
The prince was the first royal to give evidence in a court of law since the 19th century during High Court proceedings in the Mirror case in June.
Fancourt ruled that unlawful information gathering was widespread at all three Mirror group newspapers between 1996 and 1999.
Nothing was proved in relation to the years 1991 to 1994 and there was some unlawful activity in 1995, he said.
Unlawful information gathering and phone hacking continued between 2006 and 2011, the judge said.
“Phone hacking was still extensive during those years, but it was done in a more controlled way, and not done as habitually as before August 2006,” Fancourt ruled.
“Unlawful information gathering activity involving private investigators did reduce in amount during those years, but it remained extensive throughout,” he added.
The High Court had decided in 2015 that hacking was “extensive and habitual” at the Mirror Group between 1999 and 2006.
Mirror Group Newspapers said: “We welcome today’s judgment that gives the business the necessary clarity to move forward from events that took place many years ago.
“Where historical wrongdoing took place, we apologise unreservedly, have taken full responsibility and paid appropriate compensation,” the company added.
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