Prince Harry begins visit to the UK as ruling expected in court battle with Daily Mail publisher – latest updates

We are getting a statement through from the Associated Newspapers Limited, the publisher of the Daily Mail, which celebrates the judgment ruling in its favour and says it will seek to recover costs. The statement, attributed to a spokesperson, reads:

double quotation mark Associated Newspapers welcomes today’s judgement, which is an overwhelming victory for the Daily Mail and its journalists , and for a free press generally.

“Mr Justice Nicklin today cleared the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday , and dismissed every single one of the 97 allegations made by the claimants. In every case, the Judge accepted the honesty of our journalists’ evidence on how they sourced their stories.

“ This is a magnificent vindication of the Daily Mail’s journalism .

“For some of the most outrageous allegations made when the case was launched in a blaze of publicity four years ago - placing bugs in people’s cars and homes, listening to calls as they were made and illicitly accessing bank accounts - no credible evidence was ever presented.

“As we said at the time, these allegations were ‘lurid’ and ‘preposterous’ , and were a fishing expedition by the claimants and their legal teams in a politically motivated campaign to muzzle the free press.

“ The reputations of our decent and hard-working journalists were terribly impugned , and today they have been exonerated.

“As the judgement clearly shows, every single article was legitimately sourced .

“Associated Newspapers thanks Mr Justice Nicklin for the patience and wisdom he has displayed throughout this misguided legal action, which has wasted so much valuable court time and more than £50m in legal costs .

“We will look to resolve outstanding issues, including the recovery of the costs we have incurred while defending ourselves against this egregious litigation.