Piers Morgan ‘could have injected’ phone-hacked material into stories, trial told

Harry, 38, alleges journalists at MGN (Mirror Group Newspapers) gathered private information about him by intercepting his personal voicemails when he was a teenager.

During questioning of the Mirror’s then royal correspondent, Jane Kerr, Mr Sherborne highlighted articles that appeared to quote a private conversation between William and Harry and the private thoughts of Harry’s father, Charles.

The lawyer claimed these details were “information that would precisely have come from people listening to voicemail messages.”

Proceedings have now finished for the day.

After introductions from her lawyer David Sherborne this afternoon, former Coronation Street actor Nikki Sanderson will appear in the witness box to give evidence tomorrow.

You can read more about today’s proceedings below:

It is “fanciful” that private investigators were “only getting addresses to go and knock on doors”, the lawyer for Coronation Street actor Nikki Sanderson has said.

Barrister David Sherborne pointed to a Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) story titled “Girls bag bargains”, which featured photographs of Sanderson and fellow Coronation Street star Tina O’Brien shopping in Deansgate, Manchester.

Mr Sherborne argued it was “much more likely” the photographer was commissioned to go to the area rather than spotting them “by luck”.

In relation to payments to private investigators, Mr Sherborne said “the idea they were only getting addresses to go and knock on doors is fanciful.”

MGN denies that 35 of the 37 articles in the Sanderson case involved voicemail interception or unlawful information gathering.

It admits that a private investigator was used to unlawfully obtain information as part of research for the article about Sanderson’s father.

The other article, which appeared in the Irish Sunday Mirror, is classed as “not admitted” and MGN says there is no evidence of voicemail hacking or unlawful information gathering for the story.

It is “very likely” that Coronation Street star Nikki Sanderson was targeted with voicemail interception in order to establish her whereabouts, the court has been told.

One “exclusive” story brought in her case against Mirror Group Newspapers pictures of Sanderson wearing a bikini on holiday with then boyfriend Jamie Meakin on a Greek island.

Her barrister David Sherborne told the court: “We say it is very likely that Nikki Sanderson and Jamie Meakin were targeted with voicemail interception in the run up to their holiday.

“That’s how it was known where they would be.”

Peter Stubley reports from the High Court:

Former Coronation Street star Nikki Sanderson has denounced a “very hurtful” newspaper story describing her father as a “love rat”.

As part of proceedings in her claim against Mirror Group Newspapers, her barrister David Sherborne discussed an article by one of the publisher’s outlets which described her father as a “4-times wed womaniser”.

Mr Sherborne read a part of his client’s witness statement to the court, in which she said: “This isn’t celebrity gossip, it’s my life”, adding: “It’s very hurtful”.

The High Court has been told that former Coronation Street star Nikki Sanderson wrongly believed her partner had sold the story about the end of their relationship to the Sunday Mirror, reports Peter Stubley.

The actress was “angry” after the report about her and Jamie Meakin appeared under the headline “Nikki Dumps Lover: I’m gutted, wails Jamie”, said her and Prince Harry’s lawyer, David Sherborne.

“She thought that Jamie had sold the story,” he said. “When in fact there is no payment to Jamie Meakin in relation to this article.”

With Mirror journalist Jane Kerr’s testimony having come to a close today – and, with it, the evidence in Prince Harry’s case – here are some of the key moments from her time in the witness box:

The paper’s former royal editor and assistant news editor Jane Kerr:

• Defended claims she had commissioned third-parties to gather information for news stories “900 times” while working at the Mirror, stating that she “just made the calls” and that “it just didn’t occur to me to ask” how their information was obtained.
• Denied Mr Sherborne’s suggestion that she “knew” journalists were using dates of birth to pass to private investigators to access people’s voicemails.
• Stated that she has “never asked anyone to do anything unlawful” and that she “did not think there was anything wrong with using “people who were well known to the news desk”, as she “had no reason to suspect that they would be doing anything other than carrying out normal journalistic activity”.
• Admitted that she did not want to attend court on Wednesday, after the court was told that she attempted to avoid giving evidence last week but was “ordered” to attend the trial by the judge.
• Was defended against what MGN barrister Andrew Green claimed was an “ambush” of her in the witness box by his opposite number Mr Sherborne – a charge the judge rejected.
• Said it was “highly unlikely” that the information former Mirror editor Piers Morgan sometimes “injected” into stories had been obtained via phone hacking, and noted that her former boss “took a really genuine interest in royal stories”.
• Rejected the suggestion that Prince Harry was “a highly prized target” for journalists while at Eton, after the royal’s lawyer said two stories about him breaking his thumb and contracting glandular fever were “hardly consistent” with her claim that he and William were “off limits” while they were still at school.

Here are more comments from Caroline Flack’s mother, Christine, about Prince Harry’s trial against Mirror Group Newspapers.

Appearing on Jeremy Vine’s Channel 5 chat show, the late TV presenter’s mother said: “Carrie was the same in her life, whenever a story appeared in the paper it causes distrust among your friends and your family, she’d say ‘Mum, have you said anything?’

“I think Harry is doing it for everybody … and I think he’s very brave because he is getting such an awful lot of stick as well, and the people that are reporting on him are the same people he is in court against. So, it’s doubly hard.”

Ms Flack said she herself had been pursued by the paparazzi after her daughter was arrested and later found dead in February 2020 at the age of 40.

She added: “It’s horrendous what the press do, horrendous, and I’m just so pleased he’s doing something about it.”

Our world affairs editor Kim Sengupta writes:

It was a huge surprise to be told that I have been named in the High Court in the trial of Prince Harry against Mirror Group Newspapers. I have had few dealings with the royal family in my lengthy career as a journalist, and what I cover – namely foreign affairs and wars – should not have involved me in this case about alleged phone hacking.

The Sunday People had published a story in May 2005 about a knee injury suffered by Harry, and described complaints by his fellow cadets that the prince was being given “preferential treatment” and was being let off taking part in “gruelling marches”.

Prince Harry told the court that the story must have come from phone hacking, and that its appearance had led to him “worrying [he] couldn’t trust anyone for fear of that it would end up splashed across the tabloids”. So serious was the effect it had on him that it led to “distrust [he] ended up having at Sandhurst with the medical staff”.

Andrew Green KC, who is representing Mirror Group Newspapers, pointed out that a similar story had appeared in The Independent. The story was by me “the respected Independent defence correspondent” – an unexpected compliment, and showed that what was happening at Sandhurst was of public interest.

Our story, which was not very long, did not come from phone hacking. The Independent did not hack Harry’s phone or anyone else’s, and nobody had ever claimed that it had. It came from something that happens all the time in journalism – information from contacts.

Quizzed earlier today by Prince Harry’s lawyer, former Mirror journalist Jane Kerr said the source referred to in a story about Harry and “cocaine ecstasy and GHB parties” may have come from a source who was a contact of Jeff Edwards, the Mirror’s crime reporter.

In her witness statement, Ms Kerr said she was “aware that there was a payment to a confidential source in respect of this article” but added that the source was not one of her contacts.

Ms Kerr denies involvement in voicemail interception or “hacking” and denies instructing private investigators to gather information unlawfully. She said in her statement: “To be accused of such a thing is extremely upsetting.”