Prince Harry's text to Doreen Lawrence sparked 'watershed moment' amid legal battle

The Duke of Sussex contacted the Labour peer to tell her “information” had come to light “that she would want to know about”, the High Court heard today.

The message became a catalyst for Doreen Lawrence’s “personal watershed moment”, prompting her to join high-profile figures including Harry and Sir Elton John in suing Associated Newspapers.

However, the “very important” text has been lost or deleted, Mr Justice Nicklin was told today.

Baroness Lawrence, the mother of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence, the Duke of Sussex and Sir Elton are among seven high-profile claimants who are suing Associated Newspapers.

The allegations include the hiring of private investigators to place listening devices inside cars, “blagging” private records and accessing and recording private phone conversations.

A trial date has been pencilled in for January 2026.

Court documents reveal the case is forecast to cost more than £38million, with the claimants already incurring costs of £4million and £8million for The Daily Mail publisher.

Baroness Lawrence revealed in her witness statement that in early January 2022, she had “received a message saying there was some information that had come to light and that it was something I would want to know about”.

Just a few days later, she met with leading barrister David Sherborne and was told she had been a “specific target” by private investigators working for The Mail who had allegedly monitored her phone bills, bank accounts and private communications for several years.

She joined the litigation after being told that Gavin Burrows, an investigator, had “confessed” to carrying out a wide range of criminal activities on behalf of The Mail newspapers.

Similarly, Prince Harry also said he embarked on the litigation after being told Burrows “admitted to targeting me”.

However, it has since emerged that Burrows denied he was asked by The Daily Mail or The Mail on Sunday to carry out any unlawful activity.

Court documents revealed today that it was Prince Harry who contacted Doreen Lawrence in January 2022. Associated Newspapers said it was “striking” this information had not been volunteered earlier.

Associated Newspapers expressed “concern” that Baroness Lawrence had “lost and possibly deleted an important document, namely the text message she received in January 2022 from the Duke of Sussex”, revealing that searches had proven fruitless.

Catrin Evans KC, for Associated Newspapers, said the text “on her own case triggered her personal watershed moment by telling her that ‘information’ had come to light ‘that she would want to know about’.”

Evans added: “Litigation appears to have been contemplated by Baroness Lawrence almost immediately after the text was received by her.

“It also remains to be seen whether the Duke of Sussex has retained the text he sent to her or whether it can be retrieved from their respective cloud storage.”

Associated Newspapers strenuously denied any wrongdoing and has vowed to “vigorously defend” the allegations made by all seven claimants.