Campaigners who supported Prince Harry through his legal battle against News Group Newspapers (NGN) aren't ruling out the possibility that private criminal prosecutions would be filed if police don't open fresh investigations. On Wednesday the Duke of Sussex settled his case against NGN, the publisher of The Sun and The News Of The World, after they admitted to unlawful activities and serious intrusion into his private life.
But those who have joined his crusade against the malpractices of the tabloid papers are now compiling a dossier of evidence, gathered in the run-up to the trial, with the intention of presenting it to the Metropolitan Police. Sky News has been told that if new investigations aren't launched by the police, then individuals may bring private criminal prosecutions.
Emma Jones from the campaign group Hacked Off, which says it works with victims of "press abuse", said: "It would be a shame I think if it did have to be private prosecution, this surely is a matter for government and the police… If unlawful behaviour took place and the people did that, lied under oath, not just to the public but at the Leveson Inquiry and in a court case, what does that mean? The very worse that that means is that it is perjury, a criminal offence, we'd like the police to thoroughly investigate this.".
British actor Hugh Grant, who previously settled his claim against NGN has also joined those calls, along with former deputy leader of the Labour Party Lord Tom Watson, who outside court announced that a dossier of evidence would be submitted to the Metropolitan Police.
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