The High Court in London has dismissed in full the £50 million phone hacking case brought by the Duke of Sussex, Prince Harry, Doreen Lawrence and five other claimants against Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday. The judge, Mr Justice Nicklin, accepted that every article the claimants complained about had been lawfully sourced, delivering what the publisher hailed as a significant victory for the newspaper and for press freedom.

The case, which also involved high-profile figures such as Sir Elton John and Elizabeth Hurley, was heard over a three-month trial at the start of the year. The judge found that Associated Newspapers' journalist witnesses gave lawful explanations for how the disputed articles were sourced, and he accepted their denials of unlawful information gathering. He noted that the allegations — including dishonesty, unlawful conduct and deliberately false evidence — were serious, and that such grave and improbable claims require particularly convincing evidence before a court can find them proven. An Associated Newspapers spokesman described the ruling as an "overwhelming victory".