Prince Harry entitled to £320,000 compensation in hacking case, legal professionals say

The Duke of Sussex needs to be awarded as much as £320,000 in compensation over the alleged misuse of his non-public data by a tabloid newspaper writer, his legal professionals say.

Prince Harry’s authorized group set out its recommendations for the sum of money he might obtain if a decide guidelines in his favour in his case in opposition to Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN).

The duke is suing MGN for damages, claiming journalists at its titles – the Daily and Sunday Mirror and Sunday People – have been linked to strategies together with telephone hacking, so-called “blagging” or gaining data by deception, and using non-public investigators for illegal actions.

Harry alleges 147 tales from 1996 to 2010, revealed by MGN titles, used data obtained via illegal means.

The articles cowl the duke’s relationship along with his household and ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy, a number of accidents and sicknesses, his navy service and allegations of drug use.

Some 33 articles, dated between 1996 and 2009, have been selected for examination during the trial of Harry’s and others’ contested claims in opposition to the writer.

In a court docket doc launched to the media on Friday – the ultimate day of a trial in London – the duke’s legal professionals advised he could possibly be awarded as much as £320,000 if his case is profitable in relation to all of those 33 tales.

The duke might also be awarded extra if the decide, Mr Justice Fancourt, concludes Harry can also be entitled to “aggravated damages”, for added misery or damage to emotions arising from the character of the alleged wrongdoing.

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MGN has instructed the trial that it denies that 28 out of the 33 articles concerned illegal data gathering and that it was not admitted for the remaining 5 articles.

Harry’s case is being heard alongside comparable claims by actor Michael Turner, who is understood professionally as Michael Le Vell and finest recognized for enjoying Kevin Webster in Coronation Street, actress Nikki Sanderson and comic Paul Whitehouse’s ex-wife Fiona Wightman.

MGN is essentially contesting the claims and denies that any of the articles complained of resulted from telephone hacking, whereas contending that the overwhelming majority didn’t come up from every other illegal exercise.