Prince Harry loses lawsuit against Mail publisher over phone-hacking claims

The Duke of Sussex and six other prominent figures have lost their case against the publisher of the Daily Mail over claims it sourced stories using an array of unlawful methods over two decades. In a ruling that is likely to signal an end to new litigation relating to the phone-hacking scandal, the high court dismissed all the claims, stating the claimants had not proved information had been obtained unlawfully.The written verdict from Mr Justice Nicklin said the court could not simply infer a story had been obtained unlawfully if there was a legitimate and realistic legal way in which they could have been sourced. Prince Harry was one of a group of seven prominent figures who launched the multimillion-pound case against Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL), which publishes the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and MailOnline. They accused the publisher of “clear, systematic and sustained use of unlawful information gathering” over several years. Dozens of journalists and private investigators were named in the group’s claims.