PRINCE Harry has settled a legal case against the publisher of The Sun after he alleged journalists used unlawful techniques to pry on his private life.
News Group Newspapers (NGN) has offered a “full and unequivocal apology” to the Duke of Sussex and has offered to pay “substantial damages” for “serious intrusion” into his life between 1996 and 2011.
NGN admitted "incidents of unlawful activity" were carried out by private investigators working for the newspaper, in a statement read out in court.
It offered an apology for incidents of phone hacking, surveillance and misuse of private information by journalists and private investigators instructed by them at the News of the World.
It also apologised for distress it caused Harry through the "extensive coverage" and "serious intrusion" into the private life of his late mother, Princess Diana.
It agreed to pay "substantial damages", without disclosing how much this would be.
The settlement was announced after barrister David Sherborne, representing Harry, asked the judge to delay the start of the High Court trial on Tuesday.
When he launched his claim, Prince Harry alleged that more than 200 articles published by NGN between 1996 and 2011 contained information gathered by illegal means.
He repeatedly said he wanted the case to go to trial so that he could get "accountability" for other alleged victims of unlawful newsgathering of private information by NGN journalists.
Labour's former deputy leader Lord Tom Watson (below) was a second complainant in the case.
NGN also issued an apology to Lord Watson for intrusion into his private life by those working for the News of the World.
"This includes him being placed under surveillance in 2009 by journalists at the News of the World and those instructed by them," the court statement said, adding he would also be given substantial damages.
In a statement read outside court on behalf of the Duke of Sussex and Lord Watson, Harry’s lawyer Sherborne said: “In a monumental victory today, News UK have admitted that The Sun, the flagship title for Rupert Murdoch’s UK media empire, has indeed engaged in illegal practices.
"This represents a vindication for the hundreds of other claimants who were strong-armed into settling, without being able to get to the truth of what was done to them.
"After endless resistance, denials and legal battles by News Group Newspapers, including spending more than a billion pounds in payouts and in legal costs, as well as paying off those in the know to prevent the full picture from coming out, News UK is finally held to account for its illegal actions and its blatant disregard for the law."
Harry, who was 12 when his mother, Diana, the Princess of Wales, was killed in a car crash in a Paris tunnel while being followed by paparazzi, has filed other legal cases against British tabloids.
He settled a case last year against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) alleging the publishers had gathered information on him in unlawful ways from 1996 to 2010. MGN had to cover all of his legal costs, and more than £300,000 in damages.
Watson said outside court: “I once said that the big beasts of the tabloid jungle have no predators. I was wrong, they have Prince Harry.
“His bravery and astonishing courage … have brought accountability to a part of the media that thought it was untouchable.
“I am sure I speak on behalf of the thousands of victims when I say we are grateful to him for his unwavering support and his determination under extraordinary pressure.”
