UK tabloid publisher apologises as Prince Harry phone hacking trial begins

Lawyers representing the prince said he was subjected to the 'most intrusive methods of obtaining personal information'

One of the UK’s tabloid publishers, embroiled in legal proceedings over historic phone hacking allegations targeted at celebrities including Prince Harry, on Wednesday “unreservedly apologised” for ordering the unlawful gathering of information.

The Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), the publisher of ‘Daily Mirror’, released court documents at the start of a trial in the High Court in London to continue to deny phone hacking but admitted that there was "some evidence of the instruction of third parties to engage in other types of UIG (unlawful information gathering) in respect of each of the claimants".

Harry, the Duke of Sussex, is one of the claimants in a test case being heard in the High Court and is due to give evidence next month.

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Lawyers representing the prince, the younger son of King Charles III, said he was subjected to the "most intrusive methods of obtaining personal information".

MGN denies any involvement in the case of one particular claimant in the hearing that is expected to last over six weeks. The company is represented by barrister Andrew Green, whose written arguments deny allegations of voicemail interception in the cases being examined during the trial.

"There is some evidence of the instruction of third parties to engage in other types of UIG in respect of each of the claimants. This apology is not made with the tactical objective of reducing damages, MGN accepts that an apology at this stage will not have that effect, but is made because such conduct should never have occurred," he said.

A previous hearing was told Harry's case is that 148 articles published between 1996 and 2010 included information that was allegedly obtained through methods including phone hacking. His lawyers argue that executives at the company knew about widespread phone hacking but failed to act.

MGN, which has previously settled some claims in relation to stories obtained through unlawful means, argues that the latest set of claims being brought before the court are too late and beyond the legal time limit.

Prince Harry, now based in the US, is party to actions over alleged phone hacking against two other publishers too – the Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) and News Group Newspapers (NGN), both of which deny wrongdoing.