Doreen Lawrence Claims Daily Mail Exploited Her for Credibility

Doreen Lawrence's Allegations Against the Daily Mail

By Sam Tobin and Michael Holden

Background of the Case

LONDON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - British campaigner Doreen Lawrence, whose son Stephen was killed in an infamous racist murder in the 1990s, said she felt like "a victim all over again" after being told by Prince Harry that she was allegedly targeted by the publisher of the Daily Mail.

Lawrence's Emotional Testimony

Lawrence – who with the British royal is one of seven claimants suing Associated Newspapers for alleged privacy violations between 1993 and 2011 – told London's High Court on Monday it had been painful to learn that the Mail, which she had trusted, had been "playing her".

Response from Associated Newspapers

Associated denies allegations of phone hacking and other unlawful acts, made by Lawrence and the other claimants, and previously said it was "profoundly saddened that (Lawrence) has been persuaded to bring this case".

It says the information its newspapers reported was already in the public domain or obtained from legitimate sources – including a then-government minister.

'VIOLATED'

Lawrence's 18-year-old son Stephen was murdered in 1993 by a gang of white men in southeast London, and the Mail titles were significant supporters of her family's campaign for justice.

"They have used me and my son to give them credibility for supporting a Black family," Lawrence said.

In her witness statement, Lawrence wrote she felt betrayed by Associated, saying discovering the people she thought were supporters were allegedly committing unlawful acts against her "has violated me and made me feel like a victim all over again".

She told the court that she had considered a Mail journalist, involved in the five articles she complained about, to be a friend.

"I have been played for such a long time, because all this time I have trusted and trust him," she told the court, adding: "It's so, so painful."

HARRY FIRST TOLD LAWRENCE OF ALLEGATIONS

Lawrence is the fifth claimant to give evidence after Harry, actors Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost and former lawmaker Simon Hughes. Singer Elton John and his husband are the other two claimants.

The 73-year-old anti-racist campaigner, who is also a lawmaker in the British parliament's upper house having been made a baroness, alleges she was targeted by private investigators on Associated's behalf, leading to five articles published between 1997 and 2007.

In her statement, Lawrence said she was first told about the allegations by Harry in an email in January 2022. "Prince Harry said there was some information that had come to light and that it was something I would want to know about," she said.

Lawrence added that she met two lawyers later that month, and was told that private investigators had been instructed to gather information about her on behalf of the Mail titles.

The Daily Mail campaigned for a long time to bring her son's killers to justice, famously naming five people as his murderers on its front page. When two of the men were eventually convicted, the paper was praised for its coverage.

She compared her long fight against London's Metropolitan Police, which botched the original investigation into her son's murder and was subsequently found by a public inquiry to be institutionally racist, to her lawsuit with Associated.

"This case and the invasions into my privacy and the stealing of information from a grieving mother and the investigation into her murdered son has been another trauma to me," she said in her statement.

(Reporting by Sam Tobin and Michael Holden; Editing by Alex Richardson)