A former royal correspondent and assistant editor for the Daily Mirror has denied “closing her eyes” to alleged cellphone hacking or any illegal info gathering actions.
Jane Kerr’s identify is on 10 of the 33 articles that type the premise of Prince Harry‘s lawsuit towards the newspaper’s writer, Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN).
She entered the witness field on the High Court on Wednesday instantly after the Duke of Sussex completed his personal proof – telling the court docket it had been “a lot” to undergo tales written about him so publicly.
Ms Kerr labored as a royal reporter after which royal correspondent for the Mirror from 1996 to 2005, earlier than shifting to the paper’s newsdesk and later the Sunday Mirror as options editor, earlier than leaving journalism to work in communications.
She confronted cross-examination from Harry’s lawyer, David Sherborne, who stated she had been ordered by the court docket to present proof, because the duke stayed on to look at the proceedings.
Ms Kerr was requested about two non-public investigators, together with one referred to as Jonathan Stafford, who she talked about in a second witness assertion submitted to the court docket, however not her first.
In her second assertion, Ms Kerr stated she had been knowledgeable by MGN’s solicitors of 1 fee file to Mr Stafford and one from Census Searches Ltd “which refer to my name”.
Mr Stafford was not her contact, she stated, however he had been utilized by the information desk to get phone numbers.
“I don’t know how he got telephone numbers and never asked how. I certainly wouldn’t have told him how to do it,” she stated in her assertion.
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Asked by Mr Sherborne about one other, Franco Ray, Ms Kerr stated she “vaguely” remembers him, however that there was “no way” she would have instructed him to hold out illegal info gathering.
Mr Ray was a contract journalist who would offer a narrative or background info, Ms Kerr instructed the court docket, including that she didn’t interrogate how he would acquire the main points.
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The folks named in Harry’s witness assertion
“I would ask them to do specific things, for example talk to somebody or interview them – I’d expect them to do what I would do.”
She added that she “wouldn’t expect them to do anything illegal”.
Asked by Mr Sherborne if she “closed her eyes” to what Mr Ray was allegedly doing, Ms Kerr replied: “No… they were people who provided us with stories, I had no reason to think they were obtained unlawfully.”
Ms Kerr was additionally requested about “dozens of payments” allegedly made to 1 agency – which might perform “genealogy/family tree research”.
She instructed the court docket she didn’t imagine their practices had been illegal.
‘It did not happen to me to ask’
‘Harry’s sick with kissing illness’ was one other story written by Ms Kerr
The former reporter was additionally questioned about commissioning a third-party firm 900 occasions throughout her time on the Mirror, for info equivalent to dates of beginning and addresses, regardless of the paper getting access to a database which might carry out comparable searches without spending a dime.
It is implied that the corporate was being instructed to seek out out greater than requested, to which Ms Kerr responded by saying she “just made the calls”.
“You were the assistant news editor at the Daily Mirror – you’re telling the court you instructed a company 900 times to do something you could have done for free and you’ve no idea how they obtained this information?” Mr Sherborne requested.
“It just didn’t occur to me to ask,” she replied.
It is usually recommended Ms Kerr knew journalists had been utilizing dates of beginning to go on to non-public investigators to entry folks’s voicemails, which she denied.
‘I labored laborious and actually’
In her witness statements, Ms Kerr repeated denials she was concerned in illegal info gathering exercise.
She stated: “I would like to reiterate in the strongest terms that I have never engaged in voicemail interception at MGN or elsewhere and I have never instructed private investigators or other third parties to engage in unlawful information gathering activities.
“I labored laborious and actually as a journalist, all the time believing I used to be doing the best factor, and I felt proud and privileged to be the Mirror’s royal reporter.
“To be accused of such a thing is extremely upsetting.”
In the opposite assertion, she addressed articles carrying her byline which have been complained about by Harry, saying that in some situations she couldn’t recall the story or the supply of the knowledge.
In relation to a January 2002 Daily Mirror article entitled “Harry’s cocaine ecstasy and GHB parties”, Ms Kerr stated she was following up a News of the World story and would have referred to as St James’s Palace to get affirmation.
“I cannot recall this story well and I do not know the source of the quotes in this article,” she stated, including that it was more likely to have come from a contact of her crime correspondent colleague who was collectively bylined.
She added: “I am aware that there was a payment to a confidential source in respect of this article, but the source was not one of my contacts.”
Harry is suing MGN for damages, claiming journalists at its titles – which additionally embody the Sunday Mirror and Sunday People – had been linked to illegal strategies used to acquire info. MGN denies his allegations.
Ms Kerr will probably be questioned once more on Thursday.
Content Source: information.sky.com