Prince Harry Loses Legal Battle Against Daily Mail Publisher Over Unlawful Information Gathering Claims

London: Prince Harry and six other high-profile claimants have lost their legal battle against the publisher of the Daily Mail, after a UK court dismissed allegations that the newspaper group had unlawfully obtained information for a series of articles over nearly two decades.

In a judgment delivered on Tuesday, the High Court ruled that the claimants had failed to prove their allegations against Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL), the publisher of the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and MailOnline. The court held that it could not assume stories were obtained through illegal means when legitimate methods of sourcing the information were available.

The lawsuit was brought by the Duke of Sussex alongside a group that included Elton John and his husband David Furnish, Stephen Lawrence's mother Doreen Lawrence, actors Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost, and former Liberal Democrat minister Simon Hughes.

The claimants alleged that ANL had engaged in systematic unlawful information gathering between 1997 and 2015, accusing the publisher of practices including phone hacking, bugging homes and vehicles, intercepting landline calls, using private investigators and making corrupt payments to police officers.

ANL denied the allegations throughout the proceedings, arguing that the reports were based on lawful sources such as press officers, publicly available information and individuals within the claimants' social circles.

After reviewing 55 published articles and three additional incidents cited by the claimants, the court dismissed all claims, finding insufficient evidence that the information had been obtained unlawfully.

Responding to the verdict, ANL described the ruling as a complete vindication of its journalism and its reporters. The publisher said the judgment cleared its journalists of what it called serious and unsupported allegations.

The outcome could leave the claimants facing substantial legal costs, reportedly estimated at around £50 million.

The case, which lasted 11 weeks, featured evidence from dozens of current and former journalists and editors, including former Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre. During the trial, Prince Harry testified that media coverage by the newspaper group had made life "an absolute misery" for his wife, Meghan Markle.