Prince Harry returned to the witness stand on Wednesday for a second day of testimony in a civil case against Britain’s Mirror Group Newspapers, accusing them of following his ex-girlfriend’s car. Photo by Hugo Philpott/UPI | License photo
June 7 (UPI) — Prince Harry returned to the witness stand Wednesday for a second day of testimony in a civil case against Britain’s Mirror Group Newspapers, accusing them of following his ex-girlfriend’s car.
The Duke of Sussex told a judge his relationship in the mid-2000s with then-girlfriend Chelsy Davy soured due to intense media coverage, which he attributed to a “tracking device” on her vehicle.
“We found it,” Harry said in court when asked how he knew it was there, volunteering to be the private investigator he believed planted him.
The prince said he was always shocked by how quickly reporters were able to find them at the time.
He called the impact of such attention “devastating” on his relationship with Davy and his overall mental health.
Harry also claims that voicemail and email. messages on his cell phone were regularly marked as “read” or not new, a sign he said reporters had hacked the device to get information.
The Duke of Sussex is expected to testify for two days.
In her testimony, Jane Kerr, the newspaper group’s former royal editor, claimed she could not recall the sources of the four historical articles that mentioned the prince. More than five others, she said, were the work of freelance journalists, meaning she was unaware of the sources used.
“It probably came from a member of the Princes communications team … but I can’t remember,” Kerr said of the 2002 story revealing that Harry has been diagnosed with glandular fever.
Harry remained in the London courtroom after he had finished watching Kerr answer questions.
Kerr joined the Mirror as royal reporter in 1997 and was editor when she left in 2005.
Prince Harry’s lawyer, David Sherborne, told the court that Kerr hired private investigators 900 times to work on publications linked to the Duke of Sussex. Kerr, who admitted she was uncomfortable testifying, said it was part of her job at a national newspaper.
On Tuesday, Harry became the first member of the British royal family since 1891. to give evidence in open court in a civil case against the Daily Mirror, the Sunday Mirror and the People.
