Daniel De SimoneInvestigations correspondent
Stephen Lawrence’s mother has told the of her “disbelief” at being contacted by Prince Harry, who had uncovered evidence she had been allegedly spied on by the Daily Mail.
In her first interview on the subject, Baroness Doreen Lawrence says she was “floored” by what Prince Harry had found out.
Along with Prince Harry, Sir Elton John, and other public figures, she is suing the Daily Mail’s publisher, Associated Newspapers, at the High Court in London.
Associated Newspapers has denied claims that it hacked phones, calling them “preposterous smears”.
In 2022 it emerged that Baroness Lawrence, alongside Prince Harry, was taking the Daily Mail to court. She alleged it had illegally spied on her to gather information about the investigation into the 1993 murder of her son.
Stephen Lawrence was 18 when he was stabbed to death in a racist attack in Eltham, south London.
Until now, Baroness Lawrence has not spoken publicly about the hacking claims.
Speaking to the , she says she first learned about some of the alleged spying after she received unexpected “contact from Prince Harry”, who has successfully taken other newspaper groups to court.
She has told the that Prince Harry “was busy looking at his own case and then my name kept cropping up” and “so he felt that I should know about it”.
The prince told her he had information she would want to know and she subsequently met lawyers Anjlee Sangani and David Sherborne, who told her she had been spied on.
Getty ImagesHer reaction to the claims was disbelief: “Why would anybody want to be listening to my calls, hacking into my phone? All I’m trying to do over the years, is to try and get justice for my son.”
The allegations at the High Court include claims that private investigators working for the Daily Mail tapped Baroness Lawrence’s home phone and hacked her voicemails. The paper is also accused of commissioning investigators to monitor her bank accounts and phone bills.
Associated Newspapers has not issued a statement in response to the , but has previously denied the allegations, saying it has “filed a trenchant defence of its journalism against claims of phone-hacking”.
It says it has “denied under oath that its journalists had commissioned or obtained information derived from phone-hacking, phone-tapping, bugging, computer or email-hacking or burglary to order.”
The publisher says it “stands by its previous statements that the claims are preposterous and without foundation” and that the “stories concerned, many of which were published 20 or more years ago, and not subject to any complaint at the time, were the product of responsible journalism based on legitimate sources.”
Getty ImagesAssociated Newspapers has failed to get the case thrown out of the High Court and the case is due to be heard in January. Baroness Lawrence told the that there is a clear “case to answer”.
Her other co-claimants include Sir Elton John’s husband David Furnish, actors Sadie Frost and Liz Hurley, and the former Liberal Democrat politician Sir Simon Hughes.
Baroness Lawrence said it is a “bit daunting” to be part of such a group taking on the Mail.
She says she had previously “trusted” the Daily Mail and thought it wanted to “fight for the rights of Stephen”. The paper campaigned on the Lawrence family’s behalf, and ran a famous front page in 1997, naming five prime suspects for the murder.
However, she now says her trust has been completely broken: “I don’t trust them whatsoever. I don’t trust them at all.”
Asked what she would like to happen in the case, she says: “I’d like to see Daily Mail apologise – and a public apology – for what they’ve done. We as a family has been going through so much, and they’ve added to the trauma.”