Prince Harry does not have a “single item” of evidence his phone was hacked by journalists working for Mirror Group Newspapers, the high court has heard.
Andrew Green KC, the Mirror’s barrister, admitted the company’s journalists hacked many other celebrities’ voicemails during the 2000s. But he insisted there is no hard evidence Harry was targeted using this method, saying: “There is not a single item of call data, at any time, to your mobile phone.”
The royal alleged this was because Mirror journalists were using “burner phones” that they disposed of, ensuring no records were kept.
Harry appeared emboldened as he spent a second day in the witness box at the phone-hacking trial at the high court, regularly pushing back on questions.
He told the court he would “feel some injustice” if the judge concluded his mobile phone was not hacked by reporters working for the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and People tabloids.
Harry said: “I believe that phone hacking was at an industrial scale across at least three of the papers at the time and that is beyond doubt. To have a decision against me and any other people that come behind me with their claims, given that Mirror Group have accepted hacking … yes, I would feel some injustice.”
“I believe they would have gone to extreme lengths to cover their tracks,” he said, alleging there was widespread destruction of evidence.
Harry also claimed reporters learned about his secret meetings with the television presenter Caroline Flack by obtaining hacked voicemails.
The prince said he was “livid” when he turned up at a friend’s house to meet Flack and found a photographer from Ikon Pictures taking pictures outside. He said the photo agency had “stalked him” for years and he could not comprehend how it knew where he was going.
Photographs of his meeting with Flack were later published in the People with a story by reporter Katie Hind under the headline: “Harry’s date with Gladiators star,” which described the pair attending a “lively” party at the home of his friend Mark Dyer.
Harry said he “very much” remembered the article and appeared sad as he told the trial that Flack “is no longer with us”, in reference to her suicide in 2020.
Harry said in his witness statement: “I remember this article, and these photographs, so clearly because at the time, I was so shocked – and livid – that the two photographers from Ikon Pictures knew where we would be and were already there, waiting for us to arrive. They were hiding underneath a car.”
He said he had been talking to Flack for a few weeks and they didn’t tell anyone else about their plans to meet: “Given the fact only the three of us knew the plan, I was highly suspicious and convinced someone had leaked the information to the press … I now believe this information had come from our voicemails – mine, Marko’s or Caroline’s. The impact these kinds of stories had on my relationships cannot be underestimated. Even those I trusted the most, I ended up doubting.”
Green, the Mirror’s barrister, suggested the real source of the story was the photo agency, who sold the photographs of the meeting with Flack to the newspaper for £2,500.
The lawyer argued that many of the stories Harry claims were obtained through illegal means had already been published in other newspapers.
The prince told the court that he was still “suspicious” about some of these articles, which often quoted anonymous “royal sources” providing surprisingly detailed information.
Green suggested the prince was keen to be a victim: “So you want to have been phone-hacked?” Harry replied: “No one wants to have been phone-hacked.”
The prince also questioned why many of the Mirror journalists who wrote the articles in question were not giving evidence to the trial.
Green argued that journalists would have later been taking an “enormous risk” by hacking Harry’s voicemails. “I think there was a risk right from the beginning,” the prince said, adding: “I believe the risk is worth the reward for them.”
The case continues.
