Perhaps the most bizarre moment in Prince Harry’s hacking case for me, as I sat being questioned by the increasingly desperate barrister in front of me, was when the barrister appeared to suggest I had hacked the police to find out how much it was costing to secure Elton John’s wedding.
I was astounded by this frankly insane line of questioning and told him as much. And so did the trial’s judge, Mr Justice Nicklin, who asked the barrister: “I’d like to know if you are accusing Ms Lampert of hacking the police?”
David Sherborne, who has long been the celebrity barrister of choice, mumbled and moved on. It was a brief moment of levity in a tough five hours on the witness stand.
It was clear to me then just how much the case brought by the Duke and six others against the Daily Mail was built on sand. I had always known the evidence against the paper was weak – it relied on testimony from a convicted fraudster and depended solely on the fact that private investigators had been used. I never expected that it would end up in court.
But in February this year, as I was deep in grief just a few weeks after burying my father, I found myself on the witness stand as Sherborne – best known for representing Coleen Rooney during the “Wagatha Christie” trial – attempted to pin something, anything on me. He threw accusations around like confetti, grabbing at a new one as soon as the previous one had blown away. Nothing stuck.
David Sherborne (centre), Prince Harry’s lawyer, ‘threw accusations around like confetti’ – Benjamin Cremel/AFP
Four of the complaints against me concerned stories about Sadie Frost, published during my time as showbusiness editor at the Daily Mail. One of the legal team on the Duke’s side had told her that we’d obtained our stories from tapping her former husband Jude Law’s telephone. That is what she wrote in her witness statement against me. But incredibly, Sherborne didn’t even put the accusation to me. It was as if he and the team behind the case were more concerned with putting the Daily Mail and its journalists on the witness stand than even bothering to search for the truth. But I was sourcing my stories from someone in her close circle.
Maybe one day my former colleagues and I will be able to laugh about our time in the High Court as we batted away ludicrous allegations. But the truth is, even though we knew the case was rubbish, it has been a constant stress for more than four years. As a journalist, your reputation is everything. And those money-grabbing celebrities tried to take our reputations from us. The human cost has been substantial.
It was in 2022 when the marquee names of Prince Harry and Baroness Lawrence – as well as Sir Elton John, David Furnish, Elizabeth Hurley and Simon Hughes, a former MP – announced they were planning legal action. This, it later transpired, had been organised by the campaign group Hacked Off in its latest effort to bring down tabloid newspapers, which it deems not quite subservient enough.
Some of the group – led by the Duke – were also pursuing the Daily Mirror and The Sun, but their allegations against the Daily Mail were particularly extraordinary from the start. They didn’t just accuse the paper of phone hacking, but of tapping, bugging and stealing information.
By convincing Baroness Lawrence to be part of the action – a move which the Duke was a key part of – it seemed they were also determined to hit the Daily Mail where it hurt most; the paper’s “Murderers” front page about the men accused of killing her son, Stephen Lawrence, is one of its proudest and bravest moments.
It was a particularly cynical move as, unlike the other millionaires who were part of the pact, she is unlikely to have the spare dosh to help pay for the Daily Mail’s £30m costs.
Nicklin not only rejected every one of the allegations, but singled me out as a witness, saying I was “careful and impressive”. Ever since that day in court, the social media trolls who love to target me as a Jewish woman who speaks out against anti-Semitism have smeared me as a phone hacker.
This was a painful case, which should never have come to trial. The Duke, in his desperation to attack those whom he believes hurt him, has been like a flailing creature who never cared who was caught in the firing line. Today, he’ll be feeling bruised. Good.
Click Here For The Original Source.
