The author of a biography on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex has denied having a “vested interest” in helping Prince Harry, the High Court has heard.
Omid Scobie, co-author of the biography Finding Freedom, about Harry and the Duchess of Sussex, entered the witness box on Monday as part of a trial in claims brought by several high-profile individuals, including Harry, against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN).
The publisher is accused of unlawful information-gathering including voicemail interception, securing information through deception and hiring private investigators for unlawful activities.
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MGN is contesting the case, it has always said that there is “no evidence, or no sufficient evidence, of voicemail interception” in any of the four claims chosen as “representative” cases.
At the beginning of a cross-examination of Mr Scobie, Andrew Green KC, for MGN, described Finding Freedom – which he wrote with fellow journalist Carolyn Durand – as “favourable to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex”.
Mr Scobie replied that the book was “fair”.
The barrister later asked whether the reporter’s career is “to some extent linked to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex” and when asked if Mr Scobie had a “vested interest” in helping Prince Harry, he replied: “No.
“What I am doing right now is giving ammunition to the tabloids to continue calling me his friend.”
The royal correspondent later said he was a journalist “trying to do my job” amid claims he was a “cheerleader” or “mouthpiece” for the couple.
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The line of questioning comes after Mr Scobie, who, the court heard, spent a week at the Sunday People, claimed that he was given “a list of mobile numbers followed by a detailed verbal description of how to listen to voicemails, as if it were a routine newsgathering technique”.
In his witness statement, he said: “I was taken aback by what seemed completely immoral and I never carried out the task.”
The High Court in London was also told that in spring 2002, Mr Scobie did work experience at the Daily Mirror and allegedly overheard then-editor Piers Morgan being told that information relating to Kylie Minogue and her boyfriend had come from voicemails.
“Mr Morgan was asking how confident they were in the reporting and was told that the information had come from voicemails,” Mr Scobie said.
“I recall being surprised to hear this at the time, which is why it stuck in my mind.”
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Former Sunday Mirror reporter Dan Evans – who was described as the paper’s former “in-house hacker” – also appeared in court on Monday.
Mr Evans – who later joined the now-defunct News of the World, subsequently admitted to phone hacking, and was given a 10-month suspended prison sentence.
He alleged that “many people” at MGN titles were involved “in what I today honestly believe to be one of the longest and most developed corporate/criminal conspiracies in British history”.
