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Prince Harry has won $270,000 in the phone hacking lawsuit.

The London High Court has awarded Prince Harry 140,600 British Pounds - which is about AU$268,000 - as a result of him winning his phone hacking lawsuit on Friday against the publisher of the Daily Mirror.

This was the first of several lawsuits the Duke of Sussex has filed against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which run the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People

In a written statement, Prince Harry claimed that the people at the company had "blood-stained typing fingers". The trial examined 33 stories published by the three newspapers, which the Prince alleged resulted from unlawful information gathering.

Watch: 4 revelations from Prince Harry's memoir. Post continues below.


Video via Mamamia.

Justice Timothy Fancourt in the High Court backed those claims for 15 of the 33 articles, saying that phone hacking at Mirror Group Newspapers was "widespread and habitual". He also said that private investigators "were an integral part of the system" to help collect information unlawfully.

Justice Fancourt concluded that some senior executives at MGN and in-house lawyers were aware of the unethical practices happening behind closed doors, but chose to cover it up.

"I consider that his phone was only hacked to a modest extent, and that this was probably carefully controlled by certain people at each newspaper," he said.

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Harry said the verdict was "vindicating and affirming" and should serve as a warning to news media outlets that take part in similar practices.

"Today is a great day for truth, as well as accountability," he said in a statement that was read out by his lawyer.

Prince Harry's lawyer read out a statement on his behalf after the verdict was announced. Image: Getty.

"I've been told that slaying dragons will get you burned. But in light of today's victory and the importance of doing what is needed for a free and honest press, it is a worthwhile price to pay. The mission continues."

Fancourt awarded Harry the damages for the torment he has faced, and a further sum for aggravated damages to "reflect the particular hurt and sense of outrage" at the two Trinity Mirror directors who were aware of the activity and did nothing about it.

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"Instead of doing so, they turned a blind eye to what was going on and positively concealed it," Fancourt said. "Had the illegal conduct been stopped, the misuse of the Duke's private information would have ended much sooner."

Before the ruling was declared, MGN said there was no evidence to back the accusations, however, afterwards, they "apologised unreservedly".

"We welcome today's judgement that gives the business the necessary clarity to move forward from events that took place many years ago," a spokesperson for MGN said.

"Where historical wrongdoing took place, we apologise unreservedly, have taken full responsibility and paid appropriate compensation."

Royal author Omid Scobie also made an appearance, saying that in 2002, during his time as an intern, he witnessed television host Piers Morgan discuss an article about Kylie Minogue with another journalist. 

When the newspaper editor questioned the source, they informed him that it came from a voicemail. 

"I found Mr Scobie to be a straight-forward and reliable witness and I accept what he said about Mr Morgan's involvement in the Minogue/Gooding story," said Justice Fancourt.

"No evidence was called by MGN to contradict it."

Piers Morgan read out a statement in front of his West London home. Image: Getty.

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Following the judgement, Piers Morgan delivered a statement of his own, saying: "I've never hacked a phone or told anybody else to hack a phone and nobody has produced any actual evidence to prove that I did."

In the past, Prince Harry has said that holding the British press accountable is his life's work.

The case is one of four he is currently pursuing. He has also filed lawsuits against News Corp UK, News Group Newspapers (NGN), which handles The Sun, and Associated Newspapers (ANL), which publishes The Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday.

Singer Elton John and five others are also suing ANL over alleged claims of phone hacking and privacy breaches. 

Feature Image: Getty.

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