- By Dominic Casciani and Oliver Slow
- BBC News
May 10, 2023 5:44 PM BST
Updated 26 minutes ago
Image source: Getty Images
The Duke of Sussex allegedly blames illegal intrusions into his private life by journalists for the collapse of his relationship with Chelsy Davy.
In testimony, Prince Harry claimed that after repeated harassment, Ms Davy decided that “royal life was not for her”.
The claims arose in a Supreme Court case against Mirror Group Newspapers filed by several prominent figures.
It denies the allegations of voicemail tapping in those cases.
It was also claimed that some of the cases filed exceeded the legal deadline.
Ms Davy and Prince Harry had an on-off relationship between 2004 and 2010.
In a summary of his testimony, the Duke’s lawyers claimed unlawful activity had caused “major challenges” in the relationship and led Ms Davy to decide that “royal life was not for her”.
This included journalists booking a hotel in Bazaruto, a small island off the coast of Mozambique, where Harry and wife Davy were trying to flee to “enjoy some peace and quiet,” the document said.
Lawyers also said cellphone data used in the trial showed Ms Davy became a target for voicemail tapping between 2007 and 2009.
The activities caused him “great distress” and “presented very real safety concerns not only for me but for everyone around me,” he said, adding that they also created “a great deal of paranoia” about future relationships.
“Anytime he was in a relationship, or even an alleged relationship, that individual’s entire family and often their friends were ‘dragged into the mess’ and found themselves the subject of unlawful activity on the part of MGN,” lawyers said.
Prince Harry’s lawyers claim his mobile phone number was recorded on a handheld device owned by “prolific hacker and Sunday Mirror news boss” Nick Buckley.
This editor’s device is also said to have stored numbers of two key Palace employees: Paddy Harverson and Michael Fawcett.
Prince Harry is also expected to claim that he later witnessed the voicemails of 30 people with whom he had a close relationship being tapped.
He is expected to testify in June – the first time in modern times that a senior king has appeared as a witness in court.
A previous hearing said the Duke’s case focused on 148 articles published between 1996 and 2010.
MGN has not admitted to any of the allegations, but said it apologized “unreservedly” for a separate case of unlawful intelligence gathering against Harry and said the prince’s legal challenge “justifies redress”.
The article to which this incident is referred – about an MGN journalist directing a private investigator to unlawfully collect information about Harry’s activities at the Chinawhite nightclub on a February 2004 evening – is not among the prince’s allegations.
MGN said it would never happen again.
Other celebrities have filed lawsuits against MGN, with “test cases” – including that of Prince Harry – being selected from the broader group of plaintiffs to go to court.
They include former Coronation Street actress Nikki Sanderson, comedian Paul Whitehouse’s ex-wife Fiona Wightman, and actor Michael Turner, who played Kevin Webster on Coronation Street and goes by his stage name Michael Le Vell. All are expected to testify during the six to seven week trial.
The court heard Ms Sanderson felt she was “public property” and was ill-treated in the street after “false allegations” were made in articles published by MGN.
“[She had] “People yelled at her on the street, calling her a ‘whore,’ ‘slut,’ or ‘slut,’ and were even physically assaulted on numerous occasions,” said attorney David Sherborne.
The court heard Mr Turner was accused by fellow cast members of being a “mole” in connection with alleged phone hacking.
The hearing will focus on what MGN senior officials knew about alleged phone hackers – including former Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan.
Mr Sherborne told the court that unlawful gathering of information was both habitual and widespread at three newspapers between 1991 and 2011.
He described “a deluge of illegality,” adding that “this deluge was sanctioned and sanctioned by senior officials.”
The lawyer also accused the executives of misleading the Leveson Inquiry – the study of press practices, culture and ethics – which he denies.
In written arguments, Mr Sherborne said it was “inconceivable” that Mr Morgan and other editors were unaware that MGN journalists had hired private investigators to gather information.
“The systemic and widespread use of PIs [private investigators] “The attempt by MGN journalists to unlawfully obtain private information has been approved at a high level,” said Mr Sherborne, who is also representing the Duke.
Mr Morgan denied any knowledge of phone hacking or illegal activity at the Daily Mirror when he was an editor.
MGN has previously settled a number of claims against the company relating to stories that were unlawfully obtained.
It was also involved in a trial in 2015, the only one that took place during the long-running legal battle involving claims from ex-football player Paul Gascoigne, actress Sadie Frost and Coronation Street actress Shobna Gulati.
He is involved in lawsuits related to alleged phone hacking against two other companies – the publisher of the Chron and the publisher of the Sun, both of which deny wrongdoing.