By Aysu Bicer
LONDON (AA) – Britain's Mirror Group has been ordered to pay £140,600 (nearly $179,000) in damages to Prince Harry following the conclusion of a trial where the outlet was accused of "phone hacking and illegally obtaining private information."
The verdict of Harry's lawsuit was delivered in the High Court’s final hearing. The court said that between 2003 and 2009, the phone of Harry, the younger son of King Charles and the late Princess Diana, had been targeted by the group, leading to the unauthorized acquisition of his personal information.
It was revealed that two directors at the group, namely Paul Vickers and Sly Bailey, were aware of the practice of phone hacking, according to British media.
The ruling, set to have far-reaching implications for the British media landscape, unveiled the extent of "extensive" phone hacking by Mirror Group Newspapers spanning from 2006 to 2011.
Justice Fancourt, presiding over the case, declared that the use of private investigators for unlawfully obtaining information was an "integral part of the system" during the specified period, even extending into the 2011-2012 Leveson inquiry into media standards.
Following the court ruling, Harry, 39, expressed satisfaction, hailing the ruling as a "great day for truth as well as accountability."