Prince Harry wins lawsuit against media group

A British judge ruled in favor of Prince Harry on Friday in a phone hacking lawsuit, awarding the prince about $180,000. The British High Court in London found the defendant, Mirror Group Newspapers, guilty of “widespread and habitual” phone hacking to access information for tabloid reports unlawfully. Justice Timothy Fancourt said executives working for several papers were aware of the practice but chose to cover it up.

What did the newspapers do? Phone hacking by British newspapers spans several decades,  according to the court. The court also found newspapers using other methods such as phone tapping, home bugging, and obtaining flight information and medical records. Prince Harry has also brought two other lawsuits alleging that the tabloid group unlawfully gathered information. Mirror Group Newspapers said it has paid out millions of dollars in other phone hacking lawsuits over the years, but it denied wrongdoing in Harry’s case. 

Dig deeper: Read Daniel R. Suhr’s report in WORLD Magazine on Prince Harry’s book, Spare.