We cannot (yet) speak of defeat but the latest news regarding the lawsuit against the tabloids brought by the prince Harry. Mr Justice Fancourtas they call Sir Timothy Miles Fancourt, the judge of the High Court of London who is handling his case, defined «implausible» an agreement between Buckingham Palace and the The Sun to hack the prince’s cell phone and, consequently, spy on his movements and private conversations.
No secret agreements or plots, therefore. Harry’s case “Failed to meet the necessary threshold of plausibility and persuasiveness” needed to move forward with the proceedings. There was no Therefore, no phone hacking against him.
The decision was also influenced by the times with which Harry moved. Under UK law, once more than six years since the facts the proceedings cannot be started: and Harry already knew in 2012 that he had been spied on by News of the World, a weekly that doesn’t even exist anymore (publications were stopped in 2011). The final blow to the prince’s complaint was also a “lack of credibility” in his own statements, inconsistent with the alleged evidence brought before the High Court of London. At the beginning, in fact, Harry said that he had only recently discovered the alleged hack, which is why the complaint would not have arrived within the time established by law. But then he let it slip that the ban on dragging the press into a lawsuit was imposed on him by Buckingham Palace, with which he had a secret agreement; Harry, therefore, had known for some time, but hadn’t been able (or wanted) to move due to his precise choice.
On this front, in short, the prince has made more than one mistake, and for NGN, the editorial group to which the newspapers involved in the case belong, the Court’s decision is already a success: “A Significant Victory” this is how it was defined, even if the story is by no means concluded because the other aspects of the case remain at stake, “the bulk of the allegations” for David Sherbone, Harry’s lawyer. And rightly so. There is still a lot at stake, first of all the alleged illegal methods with which NGN has monitored the fifth in line of succession to the throne, including private investigators, corrupt agents and wiretaps.
In short, everything is still possible, but one thing is certain: the judge has established that the parties will have to bear each other’s legal costs, which will be higher for Harry in light of the latest defeat. Another headache, yet another, for the prince.
Source: Vanity Fair
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