Murdoch’s UK tabloids apologise to Harry, and admit intruding on Diana

Prince Harry claimed a “monumental” victory over Rupert Murdoch’s UK newspaper group on Wednesday after the publisher settled his lawsuit, admitting unlawful actions at its Sun tabloid for the first time and paying substantial damages.
Harry, 40, had been suing News Group Newspapers (NGN), publisher of the Sun and the now-defunct News of the World, at the High Court in London, alleging the papers had illegally obtained private information about him from 1996 till 2011. NGN also admitted it had intruded into the private life of Harry’s late mother, Princess Diana. Sources familiar with the deal said the settlement totalled more than £10 million, mostly in legal fees.
“In a monumental victory today, News UK have admitted that The Sun, the flagship title for Rupert Murdoch’s UK media empire, has indeed engaged in illegal practices,” Harry and his co-claimant Tom Watson said in a statement. “Today the lies are laid bare. Today, the coverups are exposed. And today proves that no one stands above the law. The time for accountability has arrived,” said the statement, read by their lawyer David Sherborne.
The trial to consider Harry’s case, and a similar lawsuit from former senior British lawmaker Watson, had been due to start on Tuesday but following last-gasp talks, the two sides reached a settlement, with NGN saying there had been wrongdoing at the Sun, something it had denied for years. Sherborne told the court NGN had offered “a full and unequivocal apology”. In a statement, an NGN spokesperson said its apology was for the unlawful actions of private investigators working for the Sun, not of its journalists.
(Inputs from Reuters)