Prince Harry witness statement key extracts: 'Thicko, cheat, underage drinker'

Prince Harry has been facing a cross-examination successful the High Court successful his lawsuit against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN).

He believes journalists from the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and The People exploited a information spread to entree his voicemails and perceive messages near by friends and family.

As helium entered the witnesser box, Harry's 55-page witnesser statement was published, detailing the times erstwhile helium says journalists astatine the paper steadfast utilized unlawful methods to stitchery accusation to make stories astir him, including telephone hacking. MGN denies telephone hacking successful this case.

Here are immoderate cardinal extracts from his connection which helium is being challenged connected successful tribunal by barristers connected Tuesday and Wednesday.

"In my acquisition arsenic a subordinate of the Royal Family, each of america gets formed into a circumstantial relation by the tabloid press.

"You commencement disconnected arsenic a blank canvas portion they enactment retired what benignant of idiosyncratic you are and what benignant of problems and temptations you mightiness have.

"They past commencement to borderline you towards playing the relation oregon roles that suit them champion and which sells arsenic galore newspapers arsenic possible, particularly if you are the 'spare' to the 'heir'.

"You're past either the 'playboy prince', the 'failure', the 'dropout' or, successful my case, the 'thicko', the 'cheat', the 'underage drinker', the 'irresponsible cause taker', the database goes on.

"As a teen and successful my aboriginal 20s, I ended up feeling arsenic though I was playing up to a batch of the headlines and stereotypes that they wanted to pin connected maine chiefly due to the fact that I thought that, if they are printing this rubbish astir maine and radical were believing it, I whitethorn arsenic good 'do the crime', truthful to speak.

"It was a downward spiral, whereby the tabloids would perpetually effort and coax me, a 'damaged' young man, into doing thing anserine that would marque a bully communicative and merchantability tons of newspapers.

"Looking backmost connected it now, specified behaviour connected their portion is utterly vile."

Prince Harry says journalists would blag accusation astir his erstwhile woman Chelsy Davy's flights to the UK to spot him. The mates were successful an on-off, sometimes long-distance, narration for six years from 2004.

"I walked into the arrivals hallway with a shot headdress connected and instantly spotted 5 abstracted paparazzi sitting connected benches with cameras successful bags, their hands wrong rucksacks and everyone other looking astatine me," says the prince.

"I retrieve that idiosyncratic was videoing maine with 1 of those tiny small cameras betwixt their legs.

"I callback reasoning however connected world did they cognize I was going to beryllium there, but present it's obvious.

"Here were 5 big, burly and dodgy looking men, with their hands successful their pockets oregon successful rucksacks and satchels successful a engaged nationalist place.

"My information and I simply couldn't cognize whether they were reaching for a camera oregon drafting immoderate benignant of weapon."

He adds: "I ever felt the tabloids wanted maine to beryllium single, arsenic I was overmuch much absorbing to them and sold much newspapers.

"Whenever I got into a relationship, they were precise keen to study the details but would then, precise quickly, question to effort and interruption it up by putting arsenic overmuch strain connected it and creating arsenic overmuch distrust arsenic humanly possible.

"The twisted nonsubjective is inactive pursued to this time adjacent though I'm present married."

"Tabloids would routinely people articles astir maine that were often incorrect but interspersed with snippets of truth.

"This created an alternate and distorted mentation of maine to the wide nationalist - the radical I had to service and interact with arsenic a subordinate of the Royal Family - to the constituent wherever immoderate 1 of the thousands of radical that I met oregon was introduced to connected immoderate fixed day, could easy person gone: 'You cognize what, you're an idiot. I've work each the stories astir you and present I'm going to stab you."

Prince Harry says royal aides gave him his archetypal telephone erstwhile helium went to Eton College, a boarding schoolhouse successful Windsor - and it became important to his regular life.

"As I was precise heavy progressive with assorted commitments, I would perpetually beryllium leaving and receiving voicemails, arsenic substance messaging was overmuch little communal backmost then," helium says.

"It was my main means of communicating with my household [including my parent who I was evidently highly close] ... my woman astatine the time, my friends, members of the Royal Household and those I was moving with.

"My voicemails would see incredibly backstage and delicate accusation astir my relationships, my operational information and that of my household [and successful aboriginal years] my enactment some successful the Army and arsenic a elder subordinate of the Royal Family."

He says knowing MGN journalists were listening successful to backstage and delicate voicemails suggests they could person heard "anything and everything". This created immense stress, presented information concerns and created a "huge magnitude of paranoia" and suspicion successful his relationships, helium says.

"I felt I couldn't spot anybody, which was an atrocious feeling for me, particularly astatine specified a young age."

On a communicative astir a crippled to rob Harry's DNA, Prince Harry says galore papers had reported a rumour that his biologic begetter was James Hewitt - a antheral his parent had a narration with aft helium was born.

At the time, helium says, helium wasn't alert of the timeline. Aged 18 and having mislaid his parent six years earlier, helium says specified stories felt "very damaging and precise existent to me".

"They were hurtful, mean and cruel.

"I was ever near questioning the motives down the stories. Were the newspapers keen to enactment uncertainty into the minds of the nationalist truthful I mightiness beryllium ousted from the Royal Family?"

Prince Harry says helium is determined to spot this enactment done to the extremity due to the fact that helium is convinced unlawful accusation gathering was known astir by those astatine the top.

"The information that it was not conscionable the journalists who were carrying retired the unlawful activity, but besides those successful powerfulness who were turning a unsighted oculus to it truthful arsenic to guarantee that it would proceed unabated and who past tried to screen it up erstwhile the crippled was up is appalling.

"The information they're each ganging up to support each different is the astir disturbing portion of all, particularly arsenic they're the mothership of online trolling.

"Trolls respond and mobilise to stories they create. People person died arsenic a effect and radical volition proceed to termination themselves by termination erstwhile they can't spot immoderate different mode out, How overmuch much humor volition stain their typing fingers earlier idiosyncratic tin enactment a halt to this madness."