Duke of Sussex & Others vs ANL: thread 5

[bluegreygreen]

This is the fifth thread discussing the case Prince Harry (and 6 others) brought against the Daily Mail (Associated Newspapers Limited; ANL) for alleged unlawful information gathering (UIG).
The claimants were: Prince Harry (PH); Doreen Lawrence (DL); Liz Hurley (EH/LH); Elton John (EJ); David Furnish (DF); Simon Hughes (SH); Sadie Frost (SF). They were represented by David Sherborne (DS).
The defendant (ANL) was represented by Anthony White (AMW).

Judgement was handed down by Judge Nicklin on 7th July 2026.
All claims were dismissed.
Links to the summary and full judgement are below.
We are currently awaiting decisions around costs, with the next hearing due on 29-30th July.

The threads to date were thorough discussions of the evidence (so far as we were able to obtain it), with posters giving links and explaining their views.
Following the judgement, we discussed the judgement itself, the reaction, statements made by different parties and ongoing relevant issues.

We have mostly kept things civil by avoiding more general discussion on Royal Family members, which can become partisan, and trying not to be derailed from the main topic of the thread.

We have occasionally included (when things slowed with the title case) other cases or discussions with a specific theme of free speech/press freedom, particularly when related to those with money or power preventing others from speaking.

Links to previous threads
Thread 1
Thread 2
Thread 3
Thread 4

There was limited direct reporting from court after the celebrities gave evidence; what there we followed on this link
Sky news link to court case

Summary judgement

Full judgement

This isn't wrong, but I have to say I really do have a LOT of sympathy for her. I can't say how I might be altered if I lost a child, especially in the manner that she did. I may be in a minority on this but I'd be inclined to give a very very very large amount of grace to someone who lost a child to racist murder.

So we don't know what the costs are at the moment so all hypothetical. But would those who know or do closer reading than me 😊 tell me if this is anywhere near the truth.

If it is true that ANL want £10m initially (or may agree to £8m as the claimants are reported to have offered ) and If the insurance cover of estimated £16.2m stands (ie the insurance co. does not withdraw its cover due to circumstances ) then the initial immediate cost is covered , and then as I understand it there is a longer more drawn out process to award actual costs. So this may not be an immediate cashflow problem for any of the claimants.

I know there are a lot of "ifs" in there and obviously any decision the insurance makes will have a material difference - but have I got that (caveated) understanding right?

I m sure this will be reported at length but just checking whether I (at the back) am keeping up so far.

Thanks for this.

So basically an £18m shortfall?

Gulp 😬

Yes, at the time (back in December/New Year) when the claimants suddenly wanted to talk about a settlement, ANL said 'No' to settling - but offered to talk separately to DL, and gave her the option of stepping back from the case, even at that late stage.

She refused to drop out of the case (as they were suggesting), but said she would settle, giving a statement saying that Stephen Wright had done nothing wrong, if she was given £650 000.
ANL refused.

@ThatCyanCat I totally get your point of view about DL. However when I read an interview with her ex husband, I was really shocked. She had her ds’s body exhumed and brought back to the UK without telling him. She also failed to put him on the VIP list at a memorial for Stephen.

Harry, Liz, Elton and David (by extension through Elton) could cover that without taking a significant hit. Whether they will or would have to, I don't know, but £4.5m per person is totally doable for them.

Yes, I saw that. And it's horrible, I agree.

I don't know... I can just still see myself losing my mind completely and becoming a monster human if I lost a child even in a relatively peaceful way. In a way like that, I don't even want to think about what I'd become. Which is not in any way to downplay what that must have done to Stephen's father. It's all just too horrible.

£4.5m per person is totally doable for them.

For Elton and his husband? Yes. They wouldn't even miss it.

For Harry? He could likely manage it, but he'd definitely miss it. It would be a major financial blow for him.

For Liz Hurley? I'd be surprised. Obviously I don't have access to her bank accounts, but I don't think she's earned big money for years, if ever really. I doubt there's a huge amount of money in posting increasingly desperately photoshopped bikini photos on social media.

I suppose Elton (by extension) would be covering half of it though?

Is that going to make him sing?

Heh.

It's like one of those 'they want to split the restaurant bill when all I had was a soup starter and water to drink' threads.

Just on a bigger scale 😆

I think most people think that way, at least to start with.

A lot of us then remember that she is an adult, with personal responsibility for her own decisions.
She is also in a position of privilege, with resources that many of us could only dream of.
She has had several years, and multiple hearings, during which to seek advice and decide whether to proceed with the case. During those hearings, there have been specific warnings from the judge about the evidence needed as well as about the risks.

She is also one of our lawmakers, and so has a separate responsibility as a public figure to uphold important public rights such as the rule of law and freedom of speech. In this case she has abdicated that responsibility, and in her egregious statement after the verdict has undermined them.

$50m or £37m, according to most sources I see... she was very in demand in her heyday and made some good business investments/ventures, apparently, I think she's a good businesswoman. I'm sure she'd rather not lose £4.5m but I'm very sure she could if she had to.

I think a lot of those 'celebrity net worths' are complete fiction.

Anyway, she and the others chose to make this ridiculous case, so now they'll have to face the consequences.

Let's not forget she told ANL she would drop her case for 650k that is extortion, she deserves everything she gets. She got greedy.

According to estimates around the time of the trial LH has a net worth of around £50 million

Guess a 10% hit will still suck though.

Does make you wonder what she thought she might make...

I wonder what Harry has after living the billionaire lifestyle for 7 years

Well, when you put it that way...

Even if she is worth £50m, then losing 10% of your entire net worth on a single crap court case is going to sting. Oh well.

Freebie holidays in return for a shout out, like a two bit influencer?

A home which looks like it hasn't been renovated this century?

The wife selling matches on the internet?

A billionaire lifestyle ain't what it used to be!

Times report https://archive.is/A4se2

I hadn't realised that SF had commented after the judgement as well:

[AW] also criticised Sadie Frost, 61, the actor who also brought a failed claim, for writing on Instagram that it was “crazy!!” for the judge not to have recused himself from the case.

Oh yes, but she can absorb it. It wouldn't do serious damage. Can probably earn it back doing talks and interviews about it.

For whatever it's worth online, Sadie Frost seems to be worth around £9m... she's owned a multi million property in the past. She'd certainly feel a loss of a few million, then, and it might mean losing some kind of asset or investment, but again, it wouldn't be ruinous.

Hey, you are definitely not in a minority. What happened to her and her son was brutal. I have so much sympathy for any child or family going through a similar thing. I think many people are wondering why she met Dacre in a car park acknowledging she was wrong about him and Wright and offered to say this publicly. However her lawyer dropped a bombshell saying she wanted allegedly 650k to do this. This is where I feel disappointed. The his happened before Christmas. In the same breath I do think she had been misguided from those who knew better. However she is a grown woman who seemed to accept she was wrong. The money demand makes it a little murkier though.

Stellar post, bluegreygreen

There's also the point that her son's dreadful murder was 33 years ago, and while a natural sympahy for her suffering remains, you have to wonder just how long she expects her more egrerious behaviour to be excused - especially in light of the many public privileges which she's been handed and the responsibilities these entail

I have huge sympathy for her, but exhuming his body and moving him without telling his father is just cruel.

Press Gazette article on today's proceedings
https://pressgazette.co.uk/news/mail-seeks-34-5m-from-harry-and-co-over-campaign-for-leveson-2-privacy-claim/

Bit of a tangent but this is the judge’s verdict today on court costs for Mitch Winehouse case against two of Amy Winehouse’s friends.
(sorry I can’t do an archive link as it’s playing me up!)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c80np54pd1yo

In a judgment on Wednesday, she said: "The claimant chose to bring an inherently weak claim, pursue it aggressively and relentlessly to the end, and make serious and unfounded allegations against the defendants which significantly damaged their reputations, career prospects, financial security and health."

He must also pay the women's legal costs on an indemnity basis, which means those recovering their costs generally get a higher percentage of what they spent than is usual, and it is often awarded when one side has behaved particularly unreasonably.

Clarke said that in pursuing his claim, Winehouse had "deliberately turned this case into large-scale and expensive litigation, in circumstances calculated to exert commercial pressure on the defendants to settle on his terms".