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Second Day of Testimony Focuses on Phone Hacking – The Hollywood Reporter

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Much of the coverage of Prince Harry’s first day giving evidence in his legal case against Mirror Group Newspapers was centered on the contents of his 55-page witness statement, detailing the impact journalist intrusions have had on his life. On Wednesday, in his second day in the witness box, the royal focused on his specific allegations of unlawful journalistic activity.

The royal is suing the publishing group — whose titles include The Daily MirrorSunday Mirror and Sunday People — for damages, claiming that its journalists were linked to methods including phone-hacking, gaining information by deception and the use of private investigators for unlawful activities.

The trial at London’s High Court is centered around 33 stories that were published between 1995 and 2011, many of which involved his on-off relationship with then-girlfriend Chelsy Davy. Those stories were brought up in the cross-examination of the Duke by the Mirror’s barrister Andrew Green, who sought to reject the suggestion that hacking had been used.

In one article, from April 2006, The Daily Mirror reported that Prince Harry had fallen out with Davy after spending an evening at a strip club, citing a “highly placed source” to claim that, “She went absolutely berserk at him… She slammed the phone down because she was too angry to even speak.”

In his statement, the royal said the detail about the “timing and length of the calls is so specific,” adding that there were two payments to private investigators in the Mirror Group Newspaper’s records he claims are linked to the story. “With hindsight, it seems likely to me that the defendant’s journalists had access to one of our phone records and put two and two together to make a story.”

The court later discussed an article in The People from September 2007 that claimed the relationship between Harry and Davy was “in crisis after a string of bitter bust-ups,” asserting they had had three rows.

“I really cannot understand how the defendant’s journalists obtained such specific details for this article, however given what I know about [the reporter] Dean Rousewell’s activities, I find it very suspicious,” the royal said in his witness statement. “I certainly wasn’t discussing our relationship in these kind of details with anyone inside the Palace. Given the hours I was working at the time, it’s likely Chelsy and I did exchange voicemails even more often than normal, so I now believe that this information must have come from the hacking of our voicemails.”

For several articles, the royal questioned how photographers knew to be in the right place at the right time, including one that captured him dropping Davy off in the driveway of Kensington Palace. “The reason I had dropped her off where I did was to avoid any members of the public seeing us by chance, so what are the chances of someone waiting at the archway, at the specific moment I dropped her off, with a camera ready?” he wrote in his statement, adding that there was evidence The Sunday Mirror received invoices from two investigators who were both billed as “Chelsy watch.” Later in court, Prince Harry said that he once found a tracking device in Davy’s car.

Speaking to his own barrister, David Sherborne, from the witness box after the cross-examination from Green concluded, Prince Harry was asked if he thinks his claims of unlawful activity are “in the realm of total speculation,” as Green had repeatedly suggested.

“No, I don’t. And it is even more destructive that it was used as a headline I think this morning [in the newspapers] against me,” he replied, appearing to refer to the Daily Mail headline on Wednesday that used the line on its cover page.

Sherborne later presented to the court an email in connection to a tabloid story about Prince Harry and the late TV host Caroline Flack, claiming it contained a description explaining how to hack a celebrity’s phone.

“This is an email that Katie Hind, the author of this article, is sending to someone at the Mirror. We can see here that she’s forwarding under the subject ‘pin numbers’ a description of how to hack a phone from a celebrity voicemail greeting website,” he said.

The current trial is the first of five pending legal cases the Prince has launched, most centered around battles with British tabloids. 

In addition to Mirror Group Newspapers, Harry is suing Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers, publisher of The Sun, and Associated Newspapers Ltd., which owns the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday.




Much of the coverage of Prince Harry’s first day giving evidence in his legal case against Mirror Group Newspapers was centered on the contents of his 55-page witness statement, detailing the impact journalist intrusions have had on his life. On Wednesday, in his second day in the witness box, the royal focused on his specific allegations of unlawful journalistic activity.

The royal is suing the publishing group — whose titles include The Daily MirrorSunday Mirror and Sunday People — for damages, claiming that its journalists were linked to methods including phone-hacking, gaining information by deception and the use of private investigators for unlawful activities.

The trial at London’s High Court is centered around 33 stories that were published between 1995 and 2011, many of which involved his on-off relationship with then-girlfriend Chelsy Davy. Those stories were brought up in the cross-examination of the Duke by the Mirror’s barrister Andrew Green, who sought to reject the suggestion that hacking had been used.

In one article, from April 2006, The Daily Mirror reported that Prince Harry had fallen out with Davy after spending an evening at a strip club, citing a “highly placed source” to claim that, “She went absolutely berserk at him… She slammed the phone down because she was too angry to even speak.”

In his statement, the royal said the detail about the “timing and length of the calls is so specific,” adding that there were two payments to private investigators in the Mirror Group Newspaper’s records he claims are linked to the story. “With hindsight, it seems likely to me that the defendant’s journalists had access to one of our phone records and put two and two together to make a story.”

The court later discussed an article in The People from September 2007 that claimed the relationship between Harry and Davy was “in crisis after a string of bitter bust-ups,” asserting they had had three rows.

“I really cannot understand how the defendant’s journalists obtained such specific details for this article, however given what I know about [the reporter] Dean Rousewell’s activities, I find it very suspicious,” the royal said in his witness statement. “I certainly wasn’t discussing our relationship in these kind of details with anyone inside the Palace. Given the hours I was working at the time, it’s likely Chelsy and I did exchange voicemails even more often than normal, so I now believe that this information must have come from the hacking of our voicemails.”

For several articles, the royal questioned how photographers knew to be in the right place at the right time, including one that captured him dropping Davy off in the driveway of Kensington Palace. “The reason I had dropped her off where I did was to avoid any members of the public seeing us by chance, so what are the chances of someone waiting at the archway, at the specific moment I dropped her off, with a camera ready?” he wrote in his statement, adding that there was evidence The Sunday Mirror received invoices from two investigators who were both billed as “Chelsy watch.” Later in court, Prince Harry said that he once found a tracking device in Davy’s car.

Speaking to his own barrister, David Sherborne, from the witness box after the cross-examination from Green concluded, Prince Harry was asked if he thinks his claims of unlawful activity are “in the realm of total speculation,” as Green had repeatedly suggested.

“No, I don’t. And it is even more destructive that it was used as a headline I think this morning [in the newspapers] against me,” he replied, appearing to refer to the Daily Mail headline on Wednesday that used the line on its cover page.

Sherborne later presented to the court an email in connection to a tabloid story about Prince Harry and the late TV host Caroline Flack, claiming it contained a description explaining how to hack a celebrity’s phone.

“This is an email that Katie Hind, the author of this article, is sending to someone at the Mirror. We can see here that she’s forwarding under the subject ‘pin numbers’ a description of how to hack a phone from a celebrity voicemail greeting website,” he said.

The current trial is the first of five pending legal cases the Prince has launched, most centered around battles with British tabloids. 

In addition to Mirror Group Newspapers, Harry is suing Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers, publisher of The Sun, and Associated Newspapers Ltd., which owns the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday.

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