BACK CHANNEL
Prince Harry & Doreen Lawrence Tried to Back Out Of Daily Mail Hacking Trial
Judgment in the hacking claim brought by Prince Harry, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, Sir Elton John, his husband, Sadie Frost, Liz Hurley and Sir Simon Hughes against The Mail newspapers will be made public at 2pm today.
The claimants launched the action in 2022 with great fanfare about shocking allegations of burglary, blagging, bugging and phone hacking by private investigators instructed by the newspapers’ journalists.
With national treasure Doreen Lawrence on board, thanks to Prince Harry telling her she had been hacked, there was hope the newspaper group would fold and pay up quickly to avoid a costly and embarrassing trial.
Instead, it dug in for war. It was a four-year campaign conducted by an army of solicitors and barristers responsible for disclosure and marshalling witnesses ready to appear when the trial began earlier this year in January.
The Upsetter’s coverage was the first to question the evidential basis on which the claimants, especially Lawrence, had mounted their claim. This newsletter also examined the conduct of their legal and research teams in assembling a cast of characters as witnesses of truth.
It can now be revealed that Lawrence, Harry and the others were not as Gung Ho about the strength of their case as they, their lawyers and the Hacked Off lobby group behind them wanted the public to believe.
Last December, just before the trial started, an informal back channel was set up in a last minute bid by the claimants to back out of the trial and hope The Mail would settle.
The winners and losers will become public in a few hours. For now, here’s the exclusive story of that back channel.
