Summary
The court is rising for the day, with Sherborne still partway through his opening. Here’s a summary of what he’s told the court during today’s hearing:
Sherborne has been outlining the case he will make and has focused on several examples where he says senior staff at Mirror Group Newspapers acted in a way that makes it clear they knew their stories had been obtained by illegal means. He says the court will hear evidence of an “enormous number” of illegal activities being commissioned by Mirror Group Newspapers.
He told the court the pattern involved a story running without its subjects having been approached for comment, then the papers backing down when threatened with formal action. Sherborne says this indicates that staff knew what had gone into gathering the information was illegal and could not risk revealing it when defending their stories.
One example he gave was of a story about David Beckham. He said the People ran the story about phone calls the former footballer had made, then backed down when he and his wife complained.
Other examples included stories about Les Dennis and Amanda Holden, as well as Prince Michael of Kent. Sherborne told the court these followed the pattern and said they suggested Piers Morgan must have known what was going on – indeed, that he was “directly” involved.
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Sherborne also raises the case of David and Victoria Beckham, whom he says the People newspaper accused of waging a hate campaign in phone calls to their children’s former nanny.
Once again, he says, the paper immediately capitulated when they complained because its staff knew the story was based on illegally obtained information.
He quotes a People journalist, David Brown, as saying lots of stories were sourced by “screwing” mobile phones, which Sherborne tells the court means hacking. Sherborne says Brown gave the Beckham story as a specific example.
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The court is now hearing about the example of Rio Ferdinand, who was the object of a front page story in the Mirror that Sherborne says was “riddled” with illegally obtained information. He says this is another story that was not investigated by the paper’s legal department.
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Sherborne gives an example of a specific story about Les Dennis, the TV presenter’s former wife Amanda Holden and the actor Emily Symons that he says was based on information obtained from a voicemail message by the firm investigations TDI, which was later found to have been involved in phone hacking.
He says he is outlining a pattern of the newspapers publishing stories they had satisfied themselves were true without speaking to the people involved, then backing down once threatened with official complaints.
Sherborne claims that this demonstrates the journalists were basing their stories on information they knew they could not admit to having.
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Court shown documents barrister says demonstrate 'enormous number' of illegal activities commissioned by Mirror Group Newspapers
Sherborne presents documents he says show an “enormous number” of illegal activities being commissioned by Mirror Group Newspapers.
He lists several occasions when the group paid companies run by Jonathan Rees, who was convicted of conspiring to pervert the course of justice in 1999, to carry out investigations on behalf of its various newspapers.
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He also said this morning that the board of MGN had a “vested interest” in the “growing” knowledge of alleged unlawful information-gathering not becoming public. Sherborne claimed such practices were authorised “at the highest levels” of the company.
He told the high court: “The knowledge of the board grew as the narrative progressed” amid the “growing body of knowledge about the widespread activity”.
Sherborne said it had to be borne in mind “the ramifications” for shareholders if this came out.
They have a very clear vested interest in this not becoming public and no-one being able to bring a claim.
Lawyers for the publisher say they have provided evidence from board members denying awareness of unlawful information-gathering activities.
Andrew Green KC, for MGN, said in written submissions the duke and others had made “serious allegations” of dishonesty with legal arguments that “are far from adequate”.
The claimants have not provided any direct evidence of a member of the board or legal department making a false or dishonest statement.
Here’s a little more on the comments Sherborne made in court this morning. As we reported earlier, he said Morgan “lies at the heart” of claims against its publisher over alleged unlawful information-gathering.
Sherborne, representing the Duke of Sussex and other individuals bringing legal challenges against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), said:
What we have, we say, is the direct involvement of Mr Morgan in a number of these incidents. Mr Morgan lies right at the heart of this in a number of ways. He was a very hands-on editor, also very closely connected to the board.
Summarising, Sherborne says Morgan published the article about Prince Michael of Kent’s finances without checking it with him, then followed it up with a further one. When initially challenged, he says, Morgan initially defended the story.
But he tells the court Morgan and the Mirror backed down and apologised when it became clear, as the prince’s complaint progressed, they would have to reveal that the information in the story had been obtained by “illegal means”.
David Sherborne is recapping the earlier elements he presented, which included the complaints by solicitors for Prince Michael of Kent to the Mirror about a story the paper ran. Sherborne told the court the information in this story was obtained by illegal means.
They’re back in court to resume today’s proceedings.
Here’s a roundup of what Piers Morgan knew about phone hacking – in his own words – from my colleague Jim Waterson:
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Court has risen for lunch now and will be back shortly.
Mirror used 'illegal means' for story about Prince Michael of Kent, barrister says
Sherborne is setting out his clients’ claim that the Mirror used illegal means to stand up a story about debts owed by Prince Michael of Kent – and that Morgan was aware of the fact – because the story was strenuously denied, but the paper felt it had enough evidence to run it anyway.
Sherborne says Morgan was told about the denial, but decided to publish, then defended the story in correspondence with the royals’ representatives.
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Evidence will show Piers Morgan's 'direct involvement', barrister claims
Moreover, Sherborne claims the evidence will set out Morgan’s “direct involvement” – as well as his knowledge of – the matters at the heart of this trial.
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Sherborne says Morgan was central to the operation of the Mirror, where it is alleged hacking was going on regularly; both as editor-in-chief of the daily paper, but also because he was particularly close to members of the board.
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Phone hacking so widespread at Mirror Group Newspapers that editors were personally involved, court hears
Phone hacking was so widespread at newspapers owned by Mirror Group Newspapers that even the editors were personally involved, it was alleged at the high court.
David Sherborne, the barrister for the alleged victims involving Prince Harry, said that, during the mid-2000s, phone hacking was widespread at Richard Wallace’s Daily Mirror, Tina Weaver’s Sunday Mirror, and Mark Thomas’ People.
He claimed that the top editors at the tabloids were aware of what was going on and at times were actively involved in illegally accessing voicemails. The barrister alleged:
All three of them were prolific hackers and users of unlawful information gathering.
All three editors have since left their newspaper roles but Wallace is now running Rupert Murdoch’s talkTV channel. This means he is the boss of star presenter Piers Morgan – who has also been accused of being aware of phone hacking at the Mirror.
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Lawyers are going through documents they say will give background on evidence the court is due to hear later. We’ll bring you details of that evidence as the court hears it.
Second day of phone hacking trial gets under way
Good morning, welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of phone hacking claims against Mirror Group Newspapers at the high court in London.
This is the first of Prince Harry’s three phone-hacking cases against British newspaper groups to go to trial, with the royal waiting to hear whether the courts will allow him to proceed with two separate cases against the parent companies of the Sun and the Daily Mail.
Yesterday, the court heard allegations that the former Mirror editor Piers Morgan knew about illegal phone hacking that was being “carried out on an industrial scale” at the paper.
Morgan, now a presenter on Rupert Murdoch’s TalkTV, has always denied knowingly commissioning or publishing stories based on illegally obtained voicemails.
Witnesses told the court on Wednesday they had heard Morgan openly discussing how phone hacking operated.
You can read my colleague Jim Waterson’s full story on Wednesday’s proceedings here:
