All posts tagged: Phone Hacking

Signature on crucial Prince Harry privacy case statement ‘forged’

Signature on crucial Prince Harry privacy case statement ‘forged’

Published by Sam Flores

Two Gavin Burrows signatures. Top is from a disputed 2021 statement. Bottom is from a 2025 witness statement. Picture: Press Gazette A private investigator has told the High Court that the signature on a witness statement allegedly given by him, which features extensive admissions of phone-hacking for the Mail on Sunday, was faked. The signature on the 2021 statement allegedly given to Prince Harry’s legal team looks nothing like the signature Burrows gave in 2025 in a fresh statement made in support of Associated Newspapers’ defence (see picture above). Seven people, including the Duke of Sussex, Sir Elton John and actress Sadie Frost, are suing Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) over claims of unlawful information gathering, which the publisher denies. The 2021 Burrows statement appears to have been a key reason for claimants taking the decision to sue ANL. It quotes Burrows as saying he was commissioned by Mail on Sunday investigations editor Paul Henderson hundreds of times between 2000 and 2005. The statement says: “I did Hugh Grant’s voicemails, and landline tapped and bugged him …

Partial win for Mirror as four hacking claims deemed out of time

Partial win for Mirror as four hacking claims deemed out of time

Published by Sam Flores

Paul Sculfor. Distributed by Hamlins Four hacking claims against the publisher of the Mirror have been dismissed as a judge found the claimants could have known they had a case before the six-year time limit was up. However one case against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) from a pool of test cases was allowed to continue. Some 57 people are suing MGN, with five cases being used in a preliminary trial to determine whether they should be dismissed as they were brought too late because they came more than six years after the claimants should have known they had a potential case. At the hearing in January, lawyers for MGN said the publisher “accepts the allegations of wrongdoing against it” and “concealed its voicemail interception and other unlawful information gathering at the time that it was taking place”, but said the claims should be dismissed as they could have been brought earlier. The five cases heard were those of publicist Melanie Cantor, PR agent Murray Harkin, model Paul Sculfor, dancer Camilla Sacre-Dallerup and designer Patrick Cox. …

‘Hacked’ Mail Harry story was from press office, says Rebecca English

‘Hacked’ Mail Harry story was from press office, says Rebecca English

Published by Sam Flores

A story Prince Harry claims was illegally hacked by the Daily Mail in fact came entirely legitimately via a royal family press officer, according to Daily Mail royal editor Rebecca English. Another story Harry said included illegally obtained flight information in fact came from a source at Leeds University who knew Prince Harry’s former girlfriend Chelsy Davy, English has told the High Court. Prince Harry and others are currently suing the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday over articles they claim were obtained a result of hacking, tapping, bugging and blagging. Publisher Associated Newspapers denies all the claims. Prince Harry’s legal team says that an email sent by freelance journalist Mike Behr to a journalist from The Sun and English (surfaced by other litigation) included illegally obtained flight information. English says she has no recollection of ever seeing the email in question, did not ask for the information and did not act on it. English said in her witness statement: “As a journalist, I have a responsibility to report fully and accurately, and to ask …

Former Mail on Sunday exec says emails from phone hacker don’t prove illegality

Former Mail on Sunday exec says emails from phone hacker don’t prove illegality

Published by Sam Flores

Former News of the World news editor Greg Miskiw arrives for sentencing at the Old Bailey in London on 4 July 2014. Picture: Reuters/Neil Hall Former Mail on Sunday associate editor Chris Anderson has denied buying illegally-sourced stories from phone hacker Greg Miskiw (pictured). Emails exchanged between Anderson and Greg Miskiw in 2006 form a key part of the illegal newsgathering claim brought by Prince Harry and others against Mail publisher Associated Newspapers in an ongoing privacy trial. Miskiw was at the time apparently working as a freelance selling stories that had been illegally sourced by private investigator Glenn Mulcaire. Both were convicted of phone hacking for the News of the World some years later. The privacy claimants allege that Mulcaire listened to actress Sadie Frost’s phone messages in April 2006 to reveal details of a private dispute with her nanny. They allege Mulcaire also sourced phone numbers and billing data relating to Frost. They further claim that Miskiw used illegal methods to track down a man believed to be in a romantic relationship with …

Stories came from lonely celebs and ‘hangers on’ says former Mail on Sunday editor

Stories came from lonely celebs and ‘hangers on’ says former Mail on Sunday editor

Published by Sam Flores

Daily Mail editor emeritus Peter Wright Celebrities are often lonely and confide in journalists, according to former Mail on Sunday editor Peter Wright who said Prince Harry’s accusations of illegal newsgathering at the paper are false. Along with other high-profile claimants, Harry has claimed the Mail on Sunday engaged in widespread use of phone hacking, tapping and illegal bugging as well as commissioning detectives to obtain private information like phone and medical records. The claims are the subject of an ongoing privacy trial. Wright, who was Mail on Sunday editor from 1998 to 2012 and is now editor emeritus at publisher Associated Newspapers, said in his witness statement: “Journalists have a very wide variety of sources of information, including one-off tips, regular freelancers, and well-connected individuals with whom the journalist may have spent years building a trusted relationship. “In the political, Royal and showbiz worlds, for example, journalists would spend many of their evenings at social events meeting and cultivating these existing and potential sources. “This is particularly true on Sunday newspapers, where the journalists’ …

Paul Dacre says hacking claims ‘preposterous… deeply upsetting’

Paul Dacre says hacking claims ‘preposterous… deeply upsetting’

Published by Sam Flores

Paul Dacre speaking in the BBC’s documentary Stephen: The Murder that Changed a Nation Picture: BBC Ex-Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre has described allegations of phone hacking, tapping and illegal newsgathering levelled against his former team as “grave and sometimes preposterous”. In written evidence to the privacy trial being brought by Prince Harry and others against the paper, he repeatedly emphasised the high editorial standards and family values he said characterised the Daily Mail during his time as editor and editor-in-chief from 1992 to 2018. During this period his journalists are accused of illegally accessing phone and medical records and using unlawful surveillance techniques to invade the private lives of Sir Elton John, Liz Hurley, Baroness Doreen Lawrence and others. Dacre said: “I captained a tough ship which employed some of Fleet Street’s best writers and produced some remarkable journalism… “The grave and sometimes preposterous allegations made in these proceedings have astonished, appalled and – in the small hours of the night – reduced me to rage. “Equally, they have had a deeply upsetting and, …

Mirror accepts hacking but says new claims brought too late

Mirror accepts hacking but says new claims brought too late

Published by Sam Flores

Mirror front page on 28 January 2026 Dozens of hacking claims against the publisher of the Mirror dating back to the 2000s should be allowed to continue as claimants were “triggered” to believe they had grounds to sue years later, the High Court has been told. A group of 57 people are suing Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), with five cases being used in a preliminary trial to determine whether they should be dismissed as they were brought too late. The five cases are those of publicist Melanie Cantor, PR agent Murray Harkin, model Paul Sculfor, dancer Camilla Sacre-Dallerup and designer Patrick Cox. Lawyers for MGN told the preliminary trial on Tuesday that the publisher “accepts the allegations of wrongdoing against it” and “concealed its voicemail interception and other unlawful information gathering at the time that it was taking place”, but the claims should be dismissed as they could have been brought earlier. Barristers for the five argue that the claims were brought in time, as the figures would not have known they had a potential legal claim …

Prince Harry legal team accused of dishonesty, fraud and misconduct

Prince Harry legal team accused of dishonesty, fraud and misconduct

Published by Sam Flores

Sir Elton John and David Furnish (left) and Prince Harry (right) arrive at the High Court in London on Monday 27 March 2023 for a hearing in their unlawful information gathering action against Mail publisher Associated Newspapers. Pictures: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images and PA Wire/Jordan Pettitt Prince Harry is expected to appear in court next week to give evidence in his legal action against the publisher of the Daily Mail. Harry and a group of six others are bringing the claim at the High Court in London, alleging that Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) carried out or commissioned unlawful activities such as hiring private investigators to place listening devices inside cars, “blagging” private records and accessing private phone conversations. The group includes Sir Elton John, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, former Lib Dem MP Sir Simon Hughes, and actresses Sadie Frost and Liz Hurley. Harry is expected to give evidence lasting a full day next Thursday (22 January), according to a draft trial timetable seen on Thursday. Other people expected to give evidence during the nine-week trial include Baroness Lawrence, Sir …

Mirror publisher seeks disclosures to prove hacking claims are out of time

Mirror publisher seeks disclosures to prove hacking claims are out of time

Published by Sam Flores

Daily Mirror front page on 28 November 2023 Mirror publisher Reach is hoping that 61 outstanding privacy claims relating to allegations of illegal newsgathering can be thrown out under the six-year time limit rule. Prince Harry was awarded £140,000 in damages after finding that 15 Mirror group articles about him published in the early 2000s were a result of phone-hacking. But two other claims filed alongside Harry were thrown out on grounds of time limitation. Some 61 further claims relating to allegations of phone-hacking from various claimants remain active and could yet go to trial. Now Reach subsidiary MGN Ltd is seeking disclosure of correspondence involving legal researchers Dan Waddell, Graham Johnson and Evan Harris to prove claimants knew about the allegations complained about more than six years before starting their claims. The trio have worked extensively on litigation against the publishers of the Mirror, Sun and Mail titles. The Mail has successfully forced the disclosure of correspondence between claimants and the legal research team which appear to support the publisher’s assertion that claims are …

Kelvin MacKenzie praises ‘decent Guardian journalism’ and says he was ‘duped’ over hacking

Kelvin MacKenzie praises ‘decent Guardian journalism’ and says he was ‘duped’ over hacking

Published by skeptic

Kelvin MacKenzie must rank as the most successful editor ever to work for Rupert Murdoch. He guided The Sun to its highest circulation and was responsible for many of its memorable iconic headlines. He regarded Murdoch, the man he affectionately called “boss”, as the world’s greatest newspaper owner. When the phone-hacking scandal broke in 2011, MacKenzie was among the most forthright supporters of Murdoch’s company. In the course of several TV and radio appearances, he echoed the News International line that a single “rogue reporter” had been responsible for voicemail interceptions. It has long been known that MacKenzie was deeply upset when the truth about the scale of hacking finally emerged. But he maintained a silence in public until his appearance on ITV documentary The Real Hack – the companion to a seven-part drama series, The Hack. He has now revealed just how angry he was to discover the fact that hundreds of people had been hacked by journalists working for the News of the World. He said: “I wrote a note to Rebekah Brooks …