In December 2021, Sienna Miller settled with News Group Newspapers in her long-running pursuit of justice. News Group – owned by Rupert Murdoch and part of the Murdoch media empire – had spied on Sienna, hacked her phone, stolen her medical information, published her private information and done dozens of other crazy sh-t. Sienna agreed to the settlement because she was ready to move on and because she knew it would cost her more money and time to go to trial. At the time, Sienna basically said that she hoped other people with deeper pockets would continue this fight and fundamentally change the way the British tabloid media operates. Enter Prince Harry and his litigious streak. Harry has the time, money and inclination to take down some very powerful people in the British media. While I have no doubt that Harry wants to sue the bejesus out of Rupert Murdoch and his media empire, right now Harry is focused on Viscount Rothermere, owner of Associated Newspaper (i.e. the Mail). This is unlike Harry’s very specific lawsuit against the Mail for their reporting around his security/royal protection issue. This is about the Mail’s years-long (decades-long) abuse and criminal behavior.
Prince Harry is taking legal action. The Duke of Sussex, 38, is launching a lawsuit against Associated Newspapers, the publishing house home to The Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday and MailOnline, according to a press release issued by Hamlins LLP on Thursday. Joining Prince Harry in the “legal offensive” are Elton John and his husband David Furnish, Elizabeth Hurley, actress Sadie Frost, and Baroness Doreen Lawrence, the mother of the late Stephen Lawrence.
The six individuals claim in the statement that they “have become aware of compelling and highly distressing evidence that they have been the victims of abhorrent criminal activity and gross breaches of privacy by Associated Newspapers.” Prince Harry and Frost are being represented by Hamlins LLP, while other participants are represented by gunnercooke.
According to the statement, the group has filed a lawsuit alleging that these unlawful practices include the placement of listening devices in their cars and homes by private investigators, the surreptitious recording of private telephone calls, the payment of police “with corrupt links to private investigators” for sensitive information, impersonation to obtain medical information from hospitals and care facilities and illicit manipulation into accessing bank accounts, credit histories and other financial transactions.
“It is apparent to these individuals that the alleged crimes listed above represent the tip of the iceberg — and that many other innocent people remain unknowing victims of similar terrible and reprehensible covert acts,” the release says. “They have now therefore banded together to uncover the truth, and to hold the journalists responsible fully accountable, many of whom still hold senior positions of authority and power today.”
“These individuals have been the subject of public interest during the course of their careers and personal lives. They are united in their desire to live in a world where the press operates freely, yet responsibly. A press that represents truth, is sourced in fact and can be trusted to operate ethically and in the interests of the British public,” it concludes.
Variety reports that three lawsuits were filed Thursday in London’s High Court against Associated Newspapers by Gunnercooke, citing “misuse of private information.” According to the outlet, the lawsuits filed by Prince Harry and Frost, the ex-wife of Jude Law, have not yet surfaced in legal records.
Remember when a private investigator went on the record about how he was hired by a British tabloid to dig into then-Meghan Markle’s past, her finances, her romantic life and more? That dude got her Social Security number and he provided all of it to the Sun. I have no doubt that the Mail gets up to the same sh-t that Murdoch’s papers get into though, and clearly, Harry sees a through-line. Even before he met Meghan, there were people tapping his phone and getting their hands on Chelsy Davy’s medical records and more. He has receipts.
Incidentally, not only did King Charles and Queen Camilla hire a communications chief straight from the Mail’s editorial staff, they also invited Viscount Rothermere and Rebekah Brooks (Murdoch’s right hand for his UK operations) to Queen Elizabeth’s funeral.
I was sent this. Apparently from @popbitch pic.twitter.com/qWQI04rPpN
— Hugh Grant (@HackedOffHugh) September 22, 2022
Here’s the response from Associated Newspapers (the Mail):
Response from Associated Newspapers: pic.twitter.com/3czYKt6rvE
— Omid Scobie (@scobie) October 6, 2022
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- The Queen’s grandchildren, Prince William, Prince of Wales, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Zara Tindall, Peter Philips, Princess Beatrice, Princess Eugenie, Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn, arrive to hold a vigil beside the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II as it lies in state on the catafalque in Westminster Hall, at the Palace of Westminster, London.,Image: 723638878, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Ian Vogler / Avalon
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- LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 17: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex arrives to hold a vigil in honour of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Hall on September 17, 2022 in London, England. Queen Elizabeth II’s grandchildren mount a family vigil over her coffin lying in state in Westminster Hall. Queen Elizabeth II died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on September 8, 2022, and is succeeded by her eldest son, King Charles III.,Image: 723678941, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Chris Jackson / Avalon
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- LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 17: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex holds a vigil in honour of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Hall on September 17, 2022 in London, England. Queen Elizabeth II’s grandchildren mount a family vigil over her coffin lying in state in Westminster Hall. Queen Elizabeth II died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on September 8, 2022, and is succeeded by her eldest son, King Charles III.,Image: 723679222, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Chris Jackson / Avalon
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- LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 17: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex arrives to hold a vigil in honour of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Hall on September 17, 2022 in London, England. Queen Elizabeth II’s grandchildren mount a family vigil over her coffin lying in state in Westminster Hall. Queen Elizabeth II died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on September 8, 2022, and is succeeded by her eldest son, King Charles III.,Image: 723679392, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Chris Jackson / Avalon
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- Britain’s Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend, on the day of the state funeral and burial of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, at Westminster Abbey in London, Britain, September 19, 2022.,Image: 724138047, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: -, Model Release: no, Credit line: PHIL NOBLE / Avalon
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- The Duke and Duchess of Sussex follow the bearer party with the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II as it is taken from Westminster Abbey, London at the end of service during the State Funeral of the late monarch,Image: 724165274, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: -, Model Release: no, Credit line: Gareth Fuller / Avalon
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- WINDSOR, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 19: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex arrives at Windsor Castle on September 19, 2022 in Windsor, England. The committal service at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, took place following the state funeral at Westminster Abbey. A private burial in The King George VI Memorial Chapel followed. Queen Elizabeth II died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on September 8, 2022, and is succeeded by her eldest son, King Charles III.,Image: 724206159, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: -, Model Release: no, Credit line: Leon Neal / Avalon
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- King Charles, Camilla, Queen Consort, Prince William, Catherine Princess of Wales, Prince Harry and Meghan Duchess of Sussex on a walkabout to meet members of the public at Windsor Castle in Berkshire following the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday. Featuring: Prince Harry Where: Windsor, England, United Kingdom When: 10 Sep 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
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- King Charles, Camilla, Queen Consort, Prince William, Catherine Princess of Wales, Prince Harry and Meghan Duchess of Sussex on a walkabout to meet members of the public at Windsor Castle in Berkshire following the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday. Featuring: Prince Harry, Meghan Duchess of Sussex Where: Windsor, England, United Kingdom When: 10 Sep 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
The fact that BP and KP hire these people says a lot. Ok they could have dirt on them but its not a good look.
If the DM had dirt on the Windsors wouldn’t it be savvier not to hire or publicly consort with anyone associated with the DM?
If they are threatening to expose them!? Lets say they want access in the House of Windsor for keeping their scandalous dealings and secrets. Who knows what they could agree in exchange!
Could? Oh, they absolutely DO have dirt on them. And for them to not only do blatantly associate themselves with their blackmailers but also to
HIRE them, they must have a treasure trove of scandals on the royal family. Every single one of them. Even the Queen.
the tabloids absolutely have a treasure trove on the royals. I’m not sure that’s why Camilla and Charles hired the communications chief from the Mail though. Like, i don’t think it was any kind of blackmail or “you have to hire me or I’ll spill” kind of situation. I think they just thought generally this was a good way to keep control of the press and to maintain solid press connections etc. And so far, it seems like its working.
Harry is the only one in that family the tabloids don’t have dirt on. If they did the tabloids would have used it by now.
Ginger they have played all their Harry cards already. Nazi costume, naked in Vegas, paki comment etc. So they have nothing else that isn’t known. When it comes to Baldy, nowwww we’re talking about a ton of dirt that’s not yet been aired.
@Royalblue exactly. They kind of shot themselves in the foot when it comes to Harry. It’s all already out there, so they have nothing left to hold over his head. They were so buys throwing him to the wolves for decades that they forgot to keep something back for the long winter, lol.
@Becks, that’s what I think, a big part is, it helps them with the press. We saw it in the article a couple of days ago about KC and Harry’s memoir; one of the last paragraphs was essentially a PR bit where “a Palace source” was quoted about how KC “will support diversity, promote community spirit”, yada yada.
It’ll be interesting to see how this group works together. The one with the really deep pockets has to be Elton. Didn’t David Furnish work with Meghan on that proposed animated series?
@Becks1 I think Camilla has the DM on speed dial. They helped her clean up and soften her image and in return she spilled to them about Harry all day, every day, inventing rubbish, and then did the same to Meghan. That’s probably the biggest reason why Charles is afraid of what Harry will say in his book. Plus the fact that Camilla is a skank and generally meaningless human being.
@thatsnotokay- okay, yeah, that makes sense. Harry has never said a negative word publicly about Camilla so why are they so worried? Maybe Harry has evidence of Camilla’s v close ties with the tabloids. Like maybe he didn’t realize that’s how it was but once he found out how close she is to the DM? That could be the memoir worry regarding Camilla.
That could be what’s going on with Camilla, but I think they all have various reporters on speed dial and they all leak when its convenient (meaning Charles, Camilla, William and Kate). I don’t think Camilla was the leader of the smear campaign. I think it would have been Charles or William ( or both at different times).
I think the whole “Charles is so worried about what Harry will say about camilla” is either distraction from what they are REALLY worried about, or just that they’re worried Harry will remind the world what happened between his parents (like the Crown did/is going to do.) We’ve never heard that there is bad blood between Harry and Camilla so why would Charles’ team put out there that there may be bad blood?
Let’s not forget that Carole Middleton is friends with Paul Dacre. She cultivated that friendship for a reason.
The BM operates like an an extortion racket—give us this or we’ll publish that.
I hope all the people suing the fail/mail win. It’s needs to be shut down like News of the World was. Chuck has no shame. He’s as bad as Megan’s dad.
And how sad is that, that both their fathers are selfish, worthless betrayers? Archie and Lili basically don’t have any grandpas, do they? I’m sure Granny Doria more than picks up the slack and loves those babies to pieces, and they’re probably being raised to know that Granny Diana was an amazing woman who would’ve adored them. Having grandpas obviously isn’t vital to their upbringing, but the REASON Archie and Lili don’t have them is just so tragic.
What gets me is this—apparently even Camilla thinks Charlie boy should make more of an effort to be a halfway decent grandpa to George, at least, but he’s just too selfish and self-absorbed.
Here’s my tinfoil theory:
The DM is whining that they’re going after articles 30 years old?
Harry’s going after the real story of what happened when Diana died.
He knows it’s fishy, he knows they covered some sh*t up, and he’s going to find out.
That’s why he’s in this suit with all these other celebs – so they can be much more expansive in gathering information than if he just did this alone.
Tin foil theory:
Harry and Meghan fired that night nurse so suddenly because she was attempting to steal some personal information for the tabs or to pass along personal conversations etc. Or maybe she was trying to take pictures of Archie for the tabs.
At minimum. I fear it’s much worse and they were trying to harm Archie.
I had another thought, maybe they were trying to get his DNA. We know there were perpetual rumors that Meghan was never pregnant with those “moon bump” stories.
I’m thinking it’s because she was attempting to leak stories and pictures to Christian Jones who in turn sold these stories through his partner to Dan Wootton. Remember Wootton has been exposed for buying stories about Archie’s godparent and nanny arrangements from Christian Jones and his partner.
I’ve always thought that at a minimum, it was because she was taking pictures of Archie to sell, and it was probably something worse than that.
I always thought it was pictures for the tabloids. Back in the day, before the racism and hate was out in the open, remember people floated a rumour that, when Harry took Meg to visit William and Kate for the first time, she secretly tried to take a photograph of one of the Cambridge children? Proof of her lowness and vulgarity, apparently.
As we know with these losers, the basic seed of the rumour is often from their own side.
I think she might’ve used racist language, name-calling. The only time I ever saw my parents fire staff immediately was when the person used a racial slur and when prompted to recant, wouldn’t.
I think that nurse tried to breastfeed Archie without Harry and Meghan knowing.
Roaa- so the night nurse was Rebecca DeMornay? 😆
Omg 😂
@Rapunzel — not tin foilish at all. I’ve always believed she was taking pictures to sell to the tabs. She would have made a fortune. He likely woke up when the camera flashed, he started crying and she tried to shush him, Meghan heard him and came running into the nursery and *BOOM* all hell broke loose.
Most likely Harry and Meghan has cameras in Archie’s room and picked up on something that happened unbeknownst to the culprit.
Whatever it was, we know it was serious enough that she was fired on the spot. That’s very telling IMO.
@Jaded, @royalblue, @becks,..
Something tells me they caught someone trying to do something to Archie or tamper with something glile a bottle 🍼, was it the nanny who may have been under direct orders from someone else or was it someone else they caught on camera. Could that be the reason why the felt they had to leave period? Smh
Harry’s seeming ability to cope, his ease with people and general gusto led Diana to believe that he would handle being king more easily than William. She even called him Good King Harry. Diana felt less confident in William. ‘William doesn’t want to be king and I worry about that. He doesn’t want his every move watched.”
Good King Harry taking the media to task would make his mother even more proud. Bravo!
All the best for Harry and his fight against the press beast. These people should be in jail. The fact Harry’s own family still hire them should speak volumes.
I’m sure the RR will now come out of the woodwork, holding up Harry’s litigiousness as yet another example of how he’s been brainwashed by his wife, the Wicked Witch of the West Coast (Brits looove to mock Americans for suing over “nothing”, even when “nothing” is absolutely, inarguably something). But f–k ’em. He and the others suing the Fail are totally in the right, and I hope they’re successful.
Yes they’ll try to find a way to blame Meghan. Probably something about it being to close to the queens death or something. The fact that other big bames are suing as well is greate. It’s going to make it harder for them to just blame Meghan.
That’s why it’s a good thing that Baroness Lawrence is part of the action. Her son was the victim of a racist murder and she has been in the public eye ever since. The press will have substantial difficulty attacking her after portraying her the way they have previously.
Good! I hope they win. These tabloids have been super shady with this type of surveillance forever. I’m sure King Charles and Queen Camilla remember their own phone hacking by the tabloids. I know I’ll never forget it.
So it’s okay if you commit crimes if some of them were 30 years ago? Where is any police or prosecutor investigations in this? It pays to be insanely rich to get away with being a criminal?
No, being 30 years old means nothing.
But also the wording is “up to 30 years old” which means some are more recent. Notice they’re obscuring that fact.
Agree @Rapunzel. They are obscuring that fact. The alleged criminal activity (using alledged very loosely) spans the past three decades at least. If you search, Byline Investigates and Expose News over 50 stories in the last 5 years, an article comes up with different stories they did. It’s a treasure trove of links. Two other for hire investigators(that shared info) names come up outside of Danno Hanks & Gavin Burrows. Katie Nicholl’s name comes up quite often. I really hope North American media outlets like ET & Eonline, CBS, ABC sideline her(99.9% of them quite honestly). Don’t have much hope with Fox or NBC.
There is one story (didn’t read all of them) where it appears there was collusion between the Sun and the Fail (Larcombe and English, I think are the “royal experts” involved, I believe), an email about them splitting costs of the hired investigator that had to do with blagging & tracking Chelsy Davies travels in 2005/2006. There is a lot more to this and it’s all disgusting. Recommendation, if people are going to tweet about this, make sure you include all six names. Prince Harry, Elton John, David Furnish, Sadie Frost, Doreen Lawrence, Elizabeth Hurley. There is power in numbers and the BM has/is always been about singling Harry/Harry & Meghan out. The BM creates the news, they don’t report it.
Back when Tina Brown & the Daily Beast seemed to have more credibility, they put this article out in 2010 about Squidgygate-it’s curious it was updated in July 2017. It focuses on the antics of NotW. The same should be applied to the ANL group.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/news-of-the-world-scandal-did-murdochs-hacks-bug-dianas-phone
Thirty years ago, Harry was 8 years old. They’re trying to make it sound like ancient history, when a lot of their worst behavior is much more recent.
Is there a statute of limitations? If there is, that could make sense with the wording of “up to 30 years ago” – if there is a 30 year SoL for some of these crimes.
The murder of Stephen Lawrence was in 1993, so that is probably what they are talking about. His mother is one of the parties in the suit. She fought the Metropolitan Police for their racist lack of concern over failing to solve her son’s murder. There were hearings and a change in the law.
Holy fuck!!!! Amazing news!!! I can’t help thinking they (the whole group of them) were just waiting for the Queen to die to go in guns blazing on this. Aaaaahhh I can’t imagine better news on a Friday morning. Take them down!!
A PI has gone on record in this matter, as well. Gavin Burrows has been tweeting for months about how guilty he feels about his bad acts and his efforts to atone by working with the representatives of the people he feels he injured. He came out yesterday to say he helped the plaintiffs put together their case. I’d bet he’s not the only source, but he definitely has receipts because he committed many of these unethical or illegal acts.
Harry has titanium b*lls. Once again the Firm can see how they fucked up by shooting down half in/half out. Harry Unleashed is awesome! I wish this group all the best.
I agree. Harry wouldn’t pursue this unless he had a mountain of receipts. He’s probably been planning this for years, before Meghan.
I hope it ALL comes out in this lawsuit. Go Harry, Go Elton, go Sadie, et al.
The British media is so dirty, so I’m hoping that this goes somewhere. I know people say “well its the tabloids, who pays attention to them” but the tabloid narratives seep into the “real” press so that people just accept those tabloid stories as being true at least in part, and their apologies can’t walk it back (i.e. the 10 Meg commandments story.)
It seeps into the real press and travels internationally as well.
Exactly this @Sure. The tabloids report something and it gets taken up in say, The Times, or the BBC. Then that news gets translated, and guess who looks good and guess who does not. This is great news—they must have evidence, or else they wouldn’t be able to sue. May they expose the whole rotten operation and cost the DF millions of pounds.
It’s so interesting how tenaciously the tabloids have been pointing Harry at the RF – “Look, look, over there, Harry’s destroying the monarchy! No, don’t look at us, look over there!!”
Becks, it’s the abuser’s reply of ‘I was only joking’ and ‘you’re too sensitive’
I love Harry on a righteous rampage. And look who is whining now about preposterous smears and derogatory claims and orchestrated events and claims based on no credible evidence.
I do too, he makes righteous indignation look really good.
Surprised Hugh Grant is not in on this! I wish them all the best but am very sorry for all the muck that’s going to be raised from it. Strength to the six!
I too am very surprised Hugh isn’t in on it. Unless he is helping bankroll Liz Hurley?
I’m wondering if he’s gone a similar route to Sienna. Would love to hear his take!
Defendants for these sorts of cases are chosen very carefully. The evidence may not be as strong. As suggested above, his case may also involve Elizabeth Hurley and she could have the stronger evidence. He may have family or health issues that mean he doesn’t want to go for this. He has a wife and young children. If either of their mothers didn’t want him to be a part of the suit, it probably wouldn’t happen. Also, in a class action, you want to show that it’s not just the defendants, so he could become involved at that point.
@SAS, I don’t know for sure. Hugh Grant has had a number of his lawsuits settled against a number of different ownerships of the BM/BM tabloids. Don’t believe ANL has been one of them. Hugh has been quietly/not so quietly making noise about the tactics of the BM tabloids for years. There is a reason his twitter handle is @HackedOffHugh.
For those that may not know. HG gave a witness statement to the Levenson inquiry. Reading it-is quite enlightening. He owned up to his sh@t. And, spoke his truth/experience with the BM. His witness statement made an impact. It’s why the BM went against him further. Just like they’ve tried to do with Harry, the BM has tried to downplay Hugh Grant’s intelligence. (lolz forever how the BM/BRF work hard to make W&K seem smart).
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/nov/23/hugh-grant-leveson-inquiry-statement
Go Elton John, David Furnish, Prince Harry, Elizabeth Hurley, Doreen Lawrence and Elizabeth Hurley! Your privacy was illegaly invaded. Get those MFers.
Thank you for sharing the link to the Guardian article w/ HG’s statement. Saving that one for future use.
Find out part coming soon to a court near you daily fail and company
😉😂
I really hope they win and this case does to the Mail what Millie Dowler’s did to the Screws of the World. Like everyone on here I don’t have a problem with “calling someone out” but, the lies this rag reports as truth is despicable and dangerous. If anyone with a half a brain can’t see this case is the real reason why the Fail have been relentless in their daily attacks on Harry and Meghan, then I would suggest they take off their rose coloured spectacles and take a closer look.
I can’t wait for “the book” because I’m pretty sure the media will be mentioned, and we all know Harry’s publication will be “fact checked” (unlike the RRs and their experts.)
Burn them all down Harry. Burn them all down!
@ LAURA D
I’m sure that a large part of Harry’s book will be about the Tabloids, “Journalists” and “Royal Experts” and I hope he thoroughly rips them up one side and down the other!
Now that the queen is dead, Prince Harry wont hold back to take his long-time torturers from the Uk tabloids to court. Since his father has no loyalty towards him, it looks like he has no intentions to return any regards toward Charles, nor his brother too; both have been selling him to the tabloids from his teens to date.
And some of the RRs, who made money writing/telling story based on private info coming from the hacking of his phone and his ex-girlfriends’ and friends’ as well, like Katie no nothing Nicholl, better look for good lawyer, cause this time they won’t escape the courtroom.
I want prince Harry to sue The Mail into oblivion! They deserve it for being horrible human beings although I wouldn’t be surprised if those people are actually demons out of hell.
Baroness Doreen Lawrence being part of this suing is a big deal. I don’t think the mail can settle this out of court. Disclosure is going to be interesting. Fans and supporters of the Sussexes be ready ( the war of the wars has started. )
I’m not familiar with her. Why is that a big deal?
She’s the mother of a murdered black teenager who was killed while waiting for a bus. Where it’s interesting is that the Mail came out on the side of the Lawrences and printed the headline “Murderers” with pictures of the toerags who are widely believed to be responsible. She led a very successful campaign which led to the the Met police being investigated and found to be “institutionally racist.” Their racism meant the scumbags avoided going to prison.
What isn’t widely known is that before someone in the Mail (I’ve forgotten who) realised those ratbags were as guilty as sin the Mail were about to publish a disparaging article about the Lawrences’ with information obtained illegally. So, even though they were very supportive of the Lawrences’ if “Murderers” hadn’t made such a great headline Neville and Doreen Lawrence could well have been subjected to the usual Fail treatment for people of colour.
I feel I must add the Stephen Lawrence case is the ONE and only time I’ve passionately supported a Fail headline. In my defence; as the saying goes even a broken clock is right twice a day.
She’s only in the public eye because of the racist murder of her son, Stephen and her campaigning afterwards. She’s not political and she’s never sought fame. She also has an unblemished public image and doesn’t have a history of unpleasant stories against her in the press unlike the others. She has no reason for a grudge against the British media and, in fact, the DM were publicly on her side during the campaign to have her son’s murderers prosecuted. Therefore, suggesting she is lying is going to be difficult.
I suspect she will be painted as naive and misled (a re-run of the Diana / Martin Bashir spin)
Okay, thank you both for that background. That definitely adds another layer here.
@Talia how do you think they’ll try to play her as naive? What could they possibly say about a 69yo woman who took on the Met Police and won? I’m actually really curious about that now….
Naive may be the wrong word, maybe uninformed as to how the press works or manipulated? I can’t see how else they can play it. Doing the ‘wanted to be a public figure, just whining’ which is how they seem to play every other complaint of mistreatment by the press by anyone else won’t work with a woman who became well known because of her murdered child (though she’s done a lot of community work since).
Bear in mind that Diana clearly chose to tell her story but the press have still managed to semi-successfully suggest the means of getting the interview means the content can’t be relied upon.
@ Laura D and @Tailia – Yes they did publish the photos of who they thought killed Stephen Lawrence…. however because they did this is meant that the people they printed photos could could could not be taken to a criminal court as they would not have had a fair trial!
So actually the Daily Fail yet again protected white racists while pretending to look good. I remember being so pissed off at the time.
Already Doreen Lawrence is being portrayed by the Fail as being led astray by the others in this law suit.
Thank you @ Petra. Doreen Lawrence being a part of this is a big deal. The DM courted/supported her at first and yet subliminally, did the opposite.imo The DM portrayed themselves as heroes whilst having secretive villainous intentions. The DM were not heroes. It was obvious the guilty were guilty. (if I’m reading things correctly)
The soft character assassination of Baroness Doreen Lawerence has started. Check out @jimwaterson on Twitter.
“Daily Mail, legal claims, and a statement claiming Doreen Lawrence has led astray by unnamed individuals who have convinced her to sue the newspaper’s parent company.”
Called it
Epic. Take the mail down, Harry.
They say this is old news but they sure didn’t care about how old the Panorama interview was.
That’s a very good point.
Right! @WiththeAmerican! Diana’s Panorama interview happened in ’95. The majority of the stories and nefarious actions on the people involved with the MoS occured after Diana, Fail what have you,…happened after Diana was no longer.
I wish this class action suit opens the flood gates on more recent activity of the Fail,e.g., how the Fail keeps the Markles on the payroll. Wouldn’t it be justice bif it comes out Bad Dad sold Meghan’s private letter to the Fail and the questionable way it got Jason Knauf’s email for Meghan’s lawsuit?
I wonder if we’ll be learning more about those “prowlers” at the Montecito house.
Harry is currently also pursuing cases against the Sun and the Mirror. He’s refusing to settle as others have done. So those cases might go to court.
That case has taken forever, it needs to go to court and be resolved.
I’m hoping that they win enough to make the Fail declare bankruptcy, and it doesn’t long. The other lawsuit for hacking his phone has gone on far to long. These papers should not be allowed to print any articles about prince Harry or his family while they are involved in a lawsuit either. I hope a judge blocks the Fail from the smear campaign that I’m sure they are getting ready to launch.
Sounds like the private detective who was hired has come clean about everything and already signed affidavits according to his Twitter posts, it’s going to get very ugly.
Do you have the twitter handle for the private det.? I’d like to see his tweets if possible.
Destroying the Daily Heil would be an absolutely wonderful thing for the world in the long-term. I bet everyone in the lawsuit knows the history of that fascist, misogynist, racist, classist, etc. ad infinitum rag. Rothermere has deep pockets though, and he’s got buddies with deep pockets too. Here’s hoping.
I’m not sure if we’re allowed to link articles, but the article covering this by Byline Investigates included some very interesting information:
” -However, the paper’s long serving editor in chief Paul Dacre denied his papers hacked phones in sworn evidence at the Leveson Inquiry
-If it turns out the Mail was involved and he knew, Dacre potentially faces 51 weeks in jail for misleading a public inquiry
-Dacre’s forthcoming enoblement now in doubt”
Let’s gooooooooo!!
I’m curious about Harry’s end game here: he can’t be naive enough to think the BM isn’t in bed with the RF right? I mean, the the “invisible contract” isn’t just RF keeps BM happy with kid pix and such and turns a blind eye to lies and phone tapping…. The RF actively supplies the dirt.
So let’s say private info XYX is addressed in court, and the DF says no we didn’t get this info illegally, we have “sources”. William already exposed his hand by authorizing Knauf to testify for DF. Will they compell Camilla to admit she leaked? Is this a way to hold his family accountable for what they did to him and Meghan?
I mean, I’m ALL for it! It will definitely end the monarchy for sure. But this is scary high stakes. BM could leverage dirt (affairs and pegging dirt and “you lot ARE the sources how long can we take the hit and pretend you’re not!” dirt) to push RF to lean on other levers of power – judicial, political, military.
I’m kind of worried. Diana did the Oprah equivalent. She didn’t push back as hard as this, she didn’t involve the courts. She still died.
I can see Harry having multiple goals beyond holding the tabloids accountable for their crimes. I could see him exposing the invisible contract and just how complicit the royals have been in tormenting him and Meghan.
If the royals can’t make this ho away, the tabloids will turn on them big time.
It’s going to be interesting, because often journalistic sources are very well protected and that is respected by the courts (at least here in the US, not sure about the UK.) But it gets tricky if your defense is “no I did not obtain information illegally, I had a valid source, but I can’t tell you who the source is you just have to trust me.” That seems like a poor defense.
I do think Harry wants to expose the invisible contract in all its hideous glory and I think at this point he does not care if that hurts some in his family. His take on it probably is “shouldn’t have collaborated with the tabloids then.”
@Becks1 — I think (not 100% positive since I’m not a lawyer) that when there is secret or sensitive information, they can disclose the information to the judge only, and it doesn’t become part of the record. I think it’s called “in camera” review of information. I don’t know if the British have the same thing, but if they do, what I can see happening is the defendants will disclose their sources to the judge in camera, and if the sources are high enough in the family, the judge will dismiss the case in order to protect their dignity. I say this because the royal family enjoys judicial protection all the time, like how their will gets sealed for 100 years and William is able to get a super-injunction. If any defendant tells the judge in private that the info came from Charles or William, the judge will dismiss the case. Just what my gut tells me.
Lurker25 this is a very interesting question. I think a number of things have contributed to his zeal in seeing this through. There’s the basic injustice of it and ‘if not Harry then who?’ can see it through. I think he is (was) profoundly shocked and angry and disappointed in William and less so in his father. I think he’s legitimately afraid for his family. And he knows there’s just no good reason, no justification for it all. All that rolled into losing his mother has given him the resolve to say Enough, Not on my watch. It’s very empowering to make a difficult decision, make a difficult boundary, take a difficult stance. Once you do so it gets easier and easier especially with the kind of support he has from Meghan. He is now able to stand by his principles. He’s really the Prince the UK need even if they don’t know it
@oneofthemarys, thanks for thinking it through with the emotional/character/resolve component. I see your point and agree 💯. I admire the bravery, just worried. As @mrs.krabapple pointed out, the judge could end up dismissing it all to protect the monarchy. At which point Harry’s stuck his neck out for naught.
@kingston, I don’t know who you addressed your comment to. But no one on this thread said that Harry and his lawyers “underestimate the magnitude”. This rando on the internet suggests slowing down. Helps reading comprehension.
Its not only naive but hilarious to even harbor the thought that Prince Harry and his top-of-the-line lawyers underestimate the magnitude of this undertaking but somehow, randoms on the internet dont.
Lurker25, I tend to think that if sources are disclosed it will be the Jason Knaufs of the Firm. The staff members will take all of the blame. This could be exactly what Harry expects and wants to happen. It would be interesting if this actually helped the other members in the Firm in the long run … I doubt it, but you never know. What it will do is strip any idea that the smears were coming from inside the palaces. People will and have said in the instance of Jason Kanuf in Meghan’s lawsuit that Fails & Wails gave him persmission to help the tabloids fight that case, but I seriously doubt there will ever be a way to confirm that. We all know that they brf will throw the staff under the bus.
So, the question is what the palace staff actually told the papers and how did the papers then embellish that info? Also, I hope that the Thomas Markle and Samantha Markle shows are fully exposed. Who know?
Harry is definitely going after the tabloids and the palace staff. I suggest EVERYONE get lots of popcorn, because this is going to get beyond interesting.
So I used to be in charge of patient medical records for years. I had to take a ton of classes on patient privacy (this was before HIPPA which has made it even harder) and what to do in case there was a breach of some sort. Hospitals take that stuff seriously (at least the hospital and later Dr offices I worked at did) and there were and still are heavy consequences for breaking that trust.
I have a hard time with folks who give out that info for any reason, but especially to harrass , intimidate or publish against another person
Unfortunately not everyone in health care has your ethics. Remember the dozen nurses who were caught accessing Clooney’s medical records simply because they could? It was around the time of his back surgery. I don’t even know if they were fired for it.
@Nota
You’re absolutely correct. I can confirm that at least 3 people I worked with got fired for being careless about privacy of a patient and in one of those cases (before i came on staff) the patient was pretty high profile in.my city and was also in the midst of a nasty custody dispute. The person who gave out that info was actually paid by the opposing lawyer to get that info.
When the shit hit the fan lawyer was disbarred and person who released info was fined
I’ve been watching a CNN special on Rupert Murdoch and my gawd he’s a horrible, HORRIBLE human being too. I hope Jerry Hall is enjoying his ill-gotten money. His newspaper and TV empire is built on abhorrent deceit and criminal behaviour as well. Harry et al have very deep pockets and will have some of the best lawyers possible to fight this very necessary fight. I hope Rothermere’s empire crumbles and we see an end to these tabloids. But the bish in me wants to see the tabloids release some really juicy scandals on the royals before they fold.
Yep. RM is a horrible human. Watched the clip of Dennis Potter naming his cancer Rupert. Would love to see Rothermere’s empire fall. His tentacles are equal to Murdoch’s.
Baroness Lawrence is the case to focus on, in this particular instance.
This is about accountability.
Murdoch has allegedly paid out estimated £1 to £3 billion to ensure that the suit not go to trial.
Prince Harry is among five remaining litigants for that case.
It is all about reclaiming one’s legitimate right to privacy. (medical information and bank accounts are off limits)
It is about blagging, tapping landlines and goes beyond what Murdoch’s organisation did: note both the woman and owner who were at the centre of these allegations actually had an invitation to attend Harry’s beloved grandmother’s funeral.
It is about their unearned respectability .
They had no compulsion in violating societal laws, rights and boundaries. Then use private information to make public attacks their varios prey.
I hope they all prevail and get the accountability that they seek.
That’s the other suit though, right? the phone tapping suit? this is a brand new lawsuit just filed.
In terms of Prince Harry’s new suit, it is interesting to discover if this would’ve meant that he has sued every tabloid publication that had indirectly abused their power when covering him as a child?
There’s the NewsUK, The Mirror Group and now Associated.
But Valentine Low was still seeking Harry’s accommodations when dealing with the tabloid media, they self identify as Popular Press. Lol.
Can someone please explain to me why William gets so much cover from the press? He does so much dirt in the shadows but none of it gets published. When Charles was William’s age, they were printing every scandalous thing they could about him, so it’s not just because he’s the heir. I understand when he was younger (like going to college), he got more privacy because of what happened to Princess Di, but why don’t they expose anything these days? I truly do not understand.
Scandalous stories about William would sell a whole lot better than whatever played out story they are writing about M&H these days so I just.dont.get.it.
I have two working theories:
1) William has been able to provide them enough other “meat” that they are willing to look the other way. He’s willing to feed the beast, so to speak, so until they’re starving and he can’t give them more food, they’ll protect him. That sounds weird lol but hopefully you get my point. There will come a point when they will turn on him, its just a matter of when. But for now, they’re willing to cave to his threatened lawsuits and the like over his affairs etc bc he gives them other info (on the Sussexes, which he is out of, or his father).
2) Whatever they have on William is REALLY bad. Like “puts the monarchy at risk” kind of bad. It’s not just an affair or what he likes to do in the bedroom. As a result, the press is not protecting him, they’re protecting the institution, because they make so much money off it and might be pro monarchy in general etc.
I think the first theory is likelier than the second but I don’t think the second is impossible.
I think the tabloids created “roles” for the royal family in the eyes of the public, whether they match their assigned roles or not. William was the popular shining star, the savior of the family. We know he’s not, but that’s his public persona as created by the tabloids. To off-set that, Harry was deemed the wild hard-drinking foil to upstanding William. At first Waity Katie was too lazy and not classy enough to “deserve” William, but now they have a new villain (Meghan), so Kate has become the perfect English rose who never puts a foot wrong. If they run out of villains, William and Kate’s roles can change — but for now, the press has convinced a lot of readers to believe the “William is good, Harry is bad” dynamic.
The tabloid media needs a leaker, PR goes only so far.
He has shown a willingness to incriminate almost anyone, he cannot see beyond self interest, and even that can foggy at best.
I wonder if there are a great number of celebrities who don’t want to publicly put their name on the lawsuit but are privately helping fund it.
Snuffles, I actually wondered whether Elton John might be helping some of the others who are not as well financed. I suspect attorneys fees would be paid by the losing side (tabloids), so he would be reimbursed. That’s just a suspicion I had, but I doubt we’ll ever know.
Do any of you remember the Jill Dando case? She was the presenter on Crimewatch and she was shot in the head with a gun using a silencer just outside the door of her London house.
She was looking into this exact scenario, UK papers paying off the police for stories about people and hiring private investigators to hack phones.
The phone hacking was a lot easier in those days, there was a default number anyone could call and put in your name and pwd and it would play your cell phone messages. All they had to do was keep guessing until they got the pwd right, and the system did not lock you out for bad guesses
Yes, I remember her, very much so. Such a strange case. Was it a Serbian hitman; contract killing because of Crimewatch; stalker etc. I didn’t know about the phone hacking stuff. Really sad.
HamsterJam, I just looked her up. This happened in 1999, I found an article about the man who served seven years before he was acquitted. Family members of his have said that they know serving officers who didn’t believe he was guilty. Then someone decided it might have been a Russian hit man who killed her in error. Okay, like that makes sense? Right. they simply got the wrong house is what we’re to believe? I’m beginning to think that the Met Police have some really ingrained issues that have been there for decades.
Its pretty rich seeing DMs pearl clutching response
“Oh that is proposterous! We would never!
Besides even if we did it was a long time ago..”
You just have to open DM at any day to see examples of unethical and questionable journalism, its not exactly a secret.
Go Harry!