The ruling and damages of £140,600 ($266,136) will likely have broad implications for the UK press,with Harry currently in three parallel legal fights against newspapers claiming phone hacking and other illegal behaviour.
The prince became the first senior British royal for 130 years to give evidence in court when he appeared as the star witness at a trial in June against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN),the publisher of theDaily Mirror,Sunday Mirror andSunday People,who he said had targeted him for 15 years.
Fifteen of 33 articles Harry complained about were the product of phone hacking or other unlawful information gathering,the judge found. However,Justice Fancourt said Harry’s case of voicemail interception and unlawful information gathering had been proved “in part only”. His claims in relation to the other 18 articles “did not stand up to careful analysis”.
Phone-hacking,the illegal interception of voicemails on mobile phones,first came to public attention in 2006 when the then-royal editor of theNews of the World tabloid and a private investigator were arrested. They pleaded guilty and were jailed in 2007.
On Friday,Fancourt ruled that phone hacking had been “an important tool” for the Mirror Group publications,and was even used during the landmark Leveson Inquiry into press standards that started in 2011,which lifted the lid on the widespread practice.
Harry and 100 others including actors,sports stars,celebrities and people who simply had a connection to high-profile figures sued the papers,accusing them of widespread unlawful activities between 1991 and 2011.