Princess Diana’s former butler was on Tuesday given a public apology and paid substantial damages by the writer of the Daily Mirror newspaper over phone hacking and the “repeated invasion of his privacy”.
Paul Burrell’s profitable authorized motion in opposition to Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) is the most recent in a sequence of comparable claims introduced by public figures and celebrities in opposition to British tabloids.
Burrell took MGN to courtroom after being focused by non-public investigators instructed by the writer and had his voicemails intercepted.
“I am pleased to announce that the defendant has now accepted responsibility for its unlawful actions, admitted liability and has agreed to apologise to the claimant for the repeated invasion of his privacy,” mentioned Burrell’s lawyer Francis Leonard.
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Burrel phone hacks
Leonard mentioned that MGN had targeted Burrell’s voicemail messages and in addition instructed non-public investigators a minimum of thrice between 2001 and 2002.
This led to the publication of “numerous articles concerning the claimant arising from unlawfully obtained information which severely impacted his reputation”, he added.
“Between 1995 and 2008 the claimant was targeted by the defendant because he was a close friend and trusted confidante to Princess Diana and then subsequently because of his role within the public sphere following his departure from the royal household,” Leonard mentioned.
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“During Diana’s lifetime, the activities of the defendant caused his relationship with her to deteriorate as she wrongly thought that her highly sensitive personal information was being leaked to the press.”
Burrell’s defence – ‘Great psychological harm’
MGN — which publishes the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and The People — had agreed to pay substantial damages plus his authorized prices and settle for legal responsibility for the illegal acts, Leonard mentioned.
The use of the unlawfully obtained data within the press undermined Burrell’s relationship along with his authorized staff as he ready for his prison trial over accusations that he stole lots of of things from Diana’s property.
Burrell was cleared of the costs in 2002 after it emerged that he had knowledgeable Queen Elizabeth II shortly after the princess’s loss of life in August 1997 that he had taken some objects for safekeeping.
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“In relation to his criminal trial, the intense negative daily press coverage led to a disintegration of the claimant’s relationship with his wife and children, causing great psychological harm,” Leonard mentioned.
Alexander Vakil, for MGN, apologised on behalf of his consumer.
“The defendant is here today through me to offer its sincere apologies to the claimant for the damage, as well as the distress caused to him by the obtaining of his private information and the accessing of his voicemail messages,” he mentioned.
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“It has undertaken by no means to repeat these actions.
“The defendant acknowledges this information should never have been obtained or used in the manner it was and that it is liable for the misuse of private information.”
© Agence France-Presse
