Global Courant
LONDON (AP) — A lawyer for Prince Harry finished spawning the royal lawsuit against a newspaper publisher questioning a former tabloid reporter on Thursday about information inserted into stories by then-editor Piers Morgan.
On the final day of evidence, barrister David Sherborne grilled former Royal Daily Mirror correspondent Jane Kerr, whose byline appears in several of the 33 articles cited by Harry as examples of unlawful infringement by publisher Mirror Group Newspapers.
The attorney suggested to Kerr that some of the information in her stories came from phone hacking.
“Absolutely not,” Kerr said with a touch of anger.
“I’ve never intercepted a voicemail. I wouldn’t even know how,” Kerr added. She also denied knowing of any lawbreaking by freelance journalists or private investigators employed by the paper.
Kerr acknowledged in her written testimony that Morgan, who edited the Daily Mirror between 1995 and 2004, “would occasionally send or inject information into a story” without her knowing the source.
Asked by Sherborne about quotes in one story, she said: “I can’t say for sure where I got them from because I can’t remember. It’s possible Piers gave them to me.’
Morgan has denied knowing about phone hacking at the Mirror, and the company disputes Harry’s claims. Mirror Group has previously paid more than £100 million ($125 million) to settle hundreds of unlawful information-gathering claims, and in 2015 printed an apology to victims of phone hacking.
Harry, who flew from his home in California to testify earlier this week, was not present at the Supreme Court on Thursday. He sat on the witness stand for a day and a half on Tuesday and Wednesday answering questions from British tabloids about his claim unlawfully sniffed his life throughout his childhood and young adulthood.
He claims that the Mirror newspapers hacked phones, bugged vehicles and used other illicit methods to obtain personal information which they distributed as royal scoops. He said the break-in poisoned relationships with friends, teachers and girlfriends – and even caused friction with brother Prince William – and led to “bouts of depression and paranoia”.
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Mirror Group Newspapers has apologized for one instance where it hired a private investigator to dig up dirt on Harry, which was not among the claims he made. It does not deny or admit its claims.
Harry, 38, is one of four plaintiffs whose lawsuits against Mirror Group Newspapers are being heard together in the High Court in London. The hearings will last until the end of June and the judge, Timothy Fancourt, is likely to issue a ruling several weeks later.
Harry left royal life in 2020, citing unbearable media attention and perceived racism towards his wife, Meghan, and is on a mission to reform the British media. He’s also suing two other newspaper publishers about alleged hacking.
