Prince Harry and Baroness Doreen Lawrence issued a fiery joint statement on Tuesday after the Duke of Sussex lost his privacy battle against the publisher of the Daily Mail. The High Court dismissed all 14 of Harry's claims, a devastating defeat that prompted a 374-word response accusing the court of a 'complete and obvious whitewash'.
Joint Statement Condemns Verdict
The statement, released after the verdict, began: 'We came to court seeking justice and accountability. But we have received neither.' Harry and Baroness Lawrence, whose son Stephen was murdered in a racist attack in 1993, argued that the judgment contradicted previous rulings against other newspaper groups. They said: 'This judgment represents a complete reversal of the position which previous judges have taken in relation to the hacking claims successfully brought against both News Group Newspapers and Mirror Group Newspapers, who were represented by, at the time, the judge who made this decision.'
Allegations of Inconsistency
The statement claimed that 'generic findings about various private investigators that were held by the courts in these parallel claims to have carried out unlawful activity at the very same time in relation to similar stories and well-known individuals have been wholly ignored.' It added: 'The fact that this court has chosen to dismiss them represents an inconsistency which is hard to understand or reconcile with common sense, or the evidence heard in the courtroom itself.'
Accusations of Whitewash
Harry and Baroness Lawrence did not hold back, describing the outcome as 'a complete and obvious whitewash, but sadly not altogether unexpected.' They said: 'However, the lengths to which the court has gone to exonerate the Mail is as shocking as it is totally unwarranted. When the court says there is not sufficient evidence of wrongdoing, despite the documents showing otherwise, then one does wonder how justice was ever going to be achieved.'
Specific Evidence Cited
The statement highlighted specific evidence they said was ignored: 'One need not look past when a private investigator the Mail used actually admitted on tape to having unlawfully blagged Baroness Lawrence, or when a journalist recorded the name of the private investigators she used to find out about highly sensitive medical information, that even the Mail was too worried to publish, or when another private investigator emailed one of the journalists with the actual British Airways seat number and ticketing details for a young girl simply visiting her boyfriend, in return for payment.'
Unequal Treatment Alleged
The pair alleged a double standard: 'It feels here like one rule for the newspapers and another for the claimants. While the claimants presented evidence, Mail journalists simply gave denials and the court chose uncritically to believe them, even in the face of inconsistencies, contradictions and blatant untruths that were obvious to neutral observers in court when compared to the documents.'
Gratitude to Legal Team
Despite the defeat, Harry and Baroness Lawrence thanked their legal team and witnesses: 'We presented to the court evidence which we believed was compelling at the time and remains so now. We would like to thank our legal team for all their hard work and all the witnesses who were brave enough to come forward in the pursuit of justice.'
