The trials and tribulations of Harry - thread 2

[TrashyPanda]

Continuation of

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/the_royal_family/4812092-ph-lost-bid-to-challenge-for-right-to-pay-home-office-for-his-security?page=10&reply=126688485

I actually think he will win. There was a culture of hacking. So maybe him just saying, that was the standard practice at the time is good enough for the judge? So maybe I won’t get the ace up his sleeve gotcha moment

I agree. He’s clearly a very damaged and fragile man. Completely fucked up I would say.

I'm being lazy and asking you rather than reading for myself! But when the BBC says they're relying on past cases, does that mean that's what Harry's side is saying, or that's what the BBC is assuming. It does make sense that Harry has been told to just keep repeating the same mantra, the journalist previously hacked, therefore they hacked this, refer to payments made, over and over. I think he might win when the judge hears similar patterns from other claimants. But I don't how much weight each case is allowed to add to another.
I wonder what Harry would have said if he hadn't been rehearsed. Allegedly!

If he wins with everyone else was hacked so I was to would mean anyone been reported by the media in the same time span would have the same probability precedent.

@Haywirecity Here's the bit I was referring to:

The Mirror Group today repeatedly argued that stories had come from a variety of legitimate sources, and sought to expose the Duke's theories as wild.
But, the publisher also knows the Duke's case benefits from the fact that it has admitted large-scale unlawful information gathering in the past.
So Prince Harry has been repeatedly pointing out compelling similarities to the earlier cases which his lawyers want the judge to note: The same mystery missed calls or voice messages, the same journalists making the same payments to private investigators.

So Harry will be saying 'these stories leaked, at the same time as mass hacking has been admitted, so I must have been hacked too as I'm a person of interest'. I can't stand him, but he's probably got a point.

I think that dodgy stuff like phone hacking definitely happened hence settling with William. I think that it would be very possible to find out stuff about Harry via the dodgy actions they took against William but the settlement presumably means that argument can't be made.

The comment about there being data for some of the other claimants also makes me think that some of them have strong cases and will win.

One of my cases (civil) was very sad as the litigant was terminally ill.

however, his case was due to errors made by his solicitor, not the organisation I represented. This was clear to the whole court from the outset.

we all felt so sorry for him, but had to rigorously defend our position in court.

The comment about there being data for some of the other claimants also makes me think that some of them have strong cases and will win

I do hope so.

it’s sad that Harry’s evidence really amounted to not a lot.

On what grounds? He needs to prove that the stories were the result of him hacked - yet one of them he's claiming damages for he admitted was before he got his first phone!

How is the order decided? Have they let prince Harry go first because he is the weakest link or is the final ruling going to be that each individual has their own ruling?

Its going to be tricky isn't it? You can't have a ruling that says 'everything in a certain time frame was probably hacking' without proof. Yet we know hacking happened and certainly the interest in the RF was huge so hacking likely.

Even if it can be shown that the information could have been obtained by other means?

"Having seen me grow up from a baby (being born into this ‘contractual relationship’ without any choice) and scrutinised my every move, the tabloids have known the challenges and mental health struggles that I have had to deal with throughout my childhood and adult life and for them to then play on that and use it to their own advantage, I think is, well, criminal."

He may well think it's criminal, but it's not. At worse it's unethical, mean and just not nice, but it's not illegal.
Harry needs to get over telling us how he feelz and start giving examples of where the law has been broken, and not examples of things he doesn't like.

I think he has to prove for each one the information was more likely to come from hacking than any other source

I guess that will be the defence...they'll need to show other sources. Will they show which other sources leaked the info? If they can do that - then that will be Harry done I'd assume.

To me it seems he can't open his mouth without contradicting what he previously said or wrote, he's an unreliable witness who can't remember past events but thinks his view is the correct one, he's driven by his emotions, fury , jealousy and a thirst for vengeance.
Any sympathy I might have felt is now at an end , he's making this whole case a shambles and I feel sorry for the other claimants .

I'm not sure they'd have to name their sources, and it would be very poor journalistic form to do so. But today the lawyer quizzing Harry mentioned some cases where the information was already in the public domain, having previously appeared in other publications. And in other cases, there would be other people privy to the information who might have leaked it. Whether that would be enough to satisfy the judge remains to be seen.

I'm sure everyone has some sympathy for Harry's life, the divorce, his mothers death, and his well documented struggles. It makes a lie that the RF live this wonderful life of luxury and privilege and it's all a bed of roses. It's difficult to navigate and manage and it takes a lot of guidance Harry however has rejected all the help he was offered and continues to blame others for his behaviour, including his ludicrous assertion he acted up to the Press's depiction of him as a playboy prince. Some people see the bad in any situation and this is Harry I'm afraid.

Just think8ng about the case overall - would it have been better to have witnesses with strong cases, provable evidence etc up first and leave Harry till much later on to testify? With the best of intenti9ns, he hasn’t been a great witness.

it is easy for many to forget the sheer number of people involved in this action.

@jeffgoldblum - we are on the same page, I think.

will any of the other claimants get as much publicity, no matter what the strengths of their cases are? Idont think so.

and that is sad. People remember the “big splash” stories.

Yep @TrashyPanda , he's turned what was a worthy case into another 'harry special' , I doubt anyone will bother paying attention after he's finished!

I think that dodgy stuff like phone hacking definitely happened hence settling with William. I think that it would be very possible to find out stuff about Harry via the dodgy actions they took against William but the settlement presumably means that argument can't be made

I'd wondered about that myself, especially given Harry's own remarks about William's settlement
So much was claimed about what other people were saying and doing that I'm surprised he didn't speak about his brother's case, as in "If they did it to him they'd certainly have done it to me"

Unless for whatever reason he wasn't allowed to mention it ...?

He just comes across so badly.

Will the judge rule on each person, or just on the 'whole' case?

I believe they're individual cases with individual barristers. I could be wrong, though.

In last nights report in the Guardian it said that PH had left California late on Sunday night [10 hour flight] but had not attended yesterday because he was 'resting and recovering from jet-lag'

Their 'legal expert' also opined that it was unwise to aggravate the judge as he would make the final decision not a jury