LONDON.- He Prince Harry, Elton John and five others celebrities they will have to pay a compensation initial 9.5 million pounds (almost 13 million dollars) to the publisher of the Daily MailAssociated Newspapers Limited (ANL), after losing a trial in July, a British judge ruled this Friday.
The seven plaintiffs failed to prove that the tabloid had intercepted voice messages or listened to telephone conversations to feed around fifty articles published between 1993 and 2018.
“The court ordered the claimants to make an interim payment of £9,544,355 by August 28,” a summary of the judgment said.
Judgment
After an 11-week trial, London’s High Court noted on July 30 that the “claimants failed to prove the allegations they had made. The claims are therefore dismissed.”
The legal battle later moved to the financial field, and Associated Newspapers Limited is demanding compensation to cover a good part of the 34.5 million pounds (47 million dollars) that it claims it spent during the four years of the process.
In addition, the company had requested a first payment within two weeks. The total amount of compensation will be determined later by the court.
After that July verdict, Harry attacked a ruling that he described as “shocking” and “totally unjustified.”
“It is an absolute and obvious cover-up, but sadly not entirely unexpected,” the prince said in a joint statement with Doreen Lawrence, whose son was murdered in a racist attack in 1993.
Prince Harry fight
Prince Harry, Doreen Lawrence and Elton John were among seven celebrities, plus actress Elizabeth Hurley, who had filed a lawsuit against the publisher of the Daily Mail, alleging they had been victims of illegally obtaining information.
The legal process against the Daily Mail is the latest initiated by Harry, who for several years has been waging a legal battle against the powerful British tabloid press.
The prince considers the paparazzi responsible for the death of his mother, Diana, in Paris in 1997.
The decision for this initial compensation was published less than two days after the return of Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, to the United Kingdom was announced, after six years of residing in the United States, as well as the schooling of their children in the country starting next year, in September.
