Prince Harry forced to pay millions

 

TT

 

Published 15.44Updated 15.55

 

Prince Harry has been in a long-running legal battle with British newspapers. Archive photo. Photo: Alex Brandon/AP/TT

Prince Harry and six other celebrities have been forced to pay £9.5 million after losing a court case against the Daily Mail newspaper's owner.

The sum is equivalent to over SEK 122 million and is a first payment of legal costs. The High Court in London made the announcement on Friday. The money must be paid by August 28.

In July, the court dismissed the celebrities' lawsuit against ANL, which publishes the Daily Mail tabloid, due to lack of evidence.

In addition to Harry, the lawsuits include Elton John, Liz Hurley, David Furnish, Sadie Frost, Simon Hughes and Doreen Lawrence, an anti-racism activist whose son was murdered in south London in 1993.

The group claims, among other things, that ANL hired private detectives and used mobile phone tapping to spy on their private lives.

In total, ANL says the legal costs amount to more than 34 million pounds. The rest of the amount is to be paid later.