Prince Harry to appeal after losing privacy case against Daily Mail publisher

Prince Harry and other household names have launched a Court of Appeal bid to challenge a judge’s rulings in their unsuccessful claims against Daily Mail publisher Associated Newspapers. The Duke of Sussex and high-profile figures including Baroness Doreen Lawrence and Sir Elton John, sued Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) over allegations of unlawful information-gathering. ANL strongly denied the claims, which were heard at an 11-week trial in London earlier this year, with Mr Justice Nicklin dismissing all the cases in a judgment on 7 July. In a decision in August, the judge ruled that the claimants’ had to pay £9,544,355 within seven days as an initial contribution to the publisher’s costs ahead of further hearings to determine the total sum. Mr Justice Nicklin also said that ANL’s costs should be determined on an indemnity basis, which is more favourable to the publisher in terms of the amount it can recover, aside from where orders had already been made. A spokesperson for Prince Harry, Lady Lawrence, Sir Elton, his husband David Furnish and actresses Liz Hurley and Sadie Frost said: “We confirm that the claimants have today filed applications with the Court of Appeal for permission to appeal the judgments of Mr Justice Nicklin in respect of his dismissal of their claims and the indemnity costs order. “The claimants respectfully disagree with those unprecedented decisions, which they consider to be legally and factually flawed.”During the trial in London, dozens of people gave evidence such as claimants Liz Hurley, Sadie Frost and Sir Simon Hughes, plus several current or former ANL journalists. In his evidence, Harry claimed “knowingly false” information was added to stories to “put me off the scent”, to conceal unlawful methods, including voicemail interception. In its defence, ANL said that Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday journalists provided a “compelling account of a pattern of legitimate sourcing of articles”. During the trial, lawyers for ANL said the sources included friends and “leaky” social circles, press officers and spokespeople, as well as stories from other newspapers and news agencies. One article that featured in a claim made by Prince Harry was about his relationship with his ex girlfriend Chelsy Davy. The pair are pictured at the Cartier International Polo Match at Guards Polo Club, Smith’s Lawn in July 2006 (Photo: Getty Images Europe) Each of the 14 articles that made up Prince Harry’s claims were examined as part of the judgement, including a 2013 Daily Mail article which stated he had faced a lonely New Year’s Eve without then-girlfriend Cressida Bonas.Another article in a 2004 story claimed that Harry had shared details of his relationship with Chelsy Davy around a campfire in Botswana, with lawyers for the Duke alleging that a Daily Mail journalist used voicemail interception for the story.In his written ruling, Mr Justice Nicklin said none of the seven claimants had proven their allegations of unlawful information gathering. “For the reasons given in this judgment, each of the claimants’ claims is dismissed,” said the judge in his 436-page ruling. The seven claimants could not rely on “suspicion, even where understandable”, said the judge. He accepted the denials of ANL journalists “who gave lawful explanations for the sourcing of the disputed articles and incidents”. The judge also ruled that Harry and the other claimants failed to prove that three senior ANL executives – including former Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre – had lied in their evidence to the Leveson Inquiry.After the judgement a spokesperson for ANL said that the reputation of “our decent and hard-working journalists were terribly impugned, and today they have been exonerated”, adding: “As the judgment clearly shows, every single article was legitimately sourced.” The i Paper is part of Harmsworth Media, a publishing division owned by ANL’s parent company DMGT – and has complete editorial independence.