Campaigners who supported Prince Harry through his legal battle against News Group Newspapers (NGN) aren’t ruling out the possibility that private criminal prosecutions would be filed if police don’t open fresh investigations.
On Wednesday the Duke of Sussex settled his case against NGN, the publisher of The Sun and The News Of The World, after they admitted to unlawful activities and serious intrusion into his private life.
But those who have joined his crusade against the malpractices of the tabloid papers are now compiling a dossier of evidence, gathered in the run-up to the trial, with the intention of presenting it to the Metropolitan Police.
Sky News has been told that if new investigations aren’t launched by the police, then individuals may bring private criminal prosecutions.
Emma Jones from the campaign group Hacked Off, which says it works with victims of “press abuse”, said: “It would be a shame I think if it did have to be private prosecution, this surely is a matter for government and the police… If unlawful behaviour took place and the people did that, lied under oath, not just to the public but at the Leveson Inquiry and in a court case, what does that mean? The very worse that that means is that it is perjury, a criminal offence, we’d like the police to thoroughly investigate this.”
British actor Hugh Grant, who previously settled his claim against NGN has also joined those calls, along with former deputy leader of the Labour Party Lord Tom Watson, who outside court announced that a dossier of evidence would be submitted to the Metropolitan Police.
Lord Watson brought the legal action against NGN alongside Prince Harry and made the announcement about the dossier after he also settled his claim on Wednesday.
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Sky News has spoken to those putting the evidence together and has been told it may take weeks to compile due to the thousands of documents involved.
But it’s also understood it will contain information about The Sun and The News Of The World that previously the police were unable to obtain.
More on this story:
What have Prince Harry and NGN said about their settlement?
Why settlement is unlikely to be end of Harry’s personal crusade
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Former Lib Dem cabinet minister Chris Huhne, who also reached a settlement with NGN in 2023 after he claimed his phone was hacked, has already written to the Metropolitan Police commissioner.
“I’ve written to Mark Rowley because I hope, I think he is genuinely trying to clean up the Met and part of that cleaning up has to be the relationship between the Met and the tabloids,” he said.
Stressing what he believes is the necessity for a new investigation, he added: “Are they going to mess up a third time?
“The Metropolitan Police have behaved appallingly, I would much prefer to see another police force deal with it because frankly the Metropolitan Police have not covered themselves in glory in this whole thing.”
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Campaigners are also calling for investigations to be launched by the Information Commissioner’s Office into the misuse of private information, the press standards organisation, and calling on parliament to look into whether journalists and executives lied under oath at the Leveson Inquiry or lied to parliamentary select committees.
On Wednesday, NGN apologised for their serious intrusion into Prince Harry’s private life but continue to strenuously deny allegations of perjury or a criminal cover up.
So far Prince Harry hasn’t spoken since his victory on Wednesday, but his perseverance has given others the ammunition to continue their fight for further accountability.
On Wednesday, after the settlement, the Met said there is no current investigation into allegations of phone hacking or related claims.
A force spokesman said: “We are aware of the outcome of the civil proceedings. It remains the case that there are no active police investigations into allegations of phone hacking or related matters. We await any correspondence from the parties involved, which we will respond to in due course.”
