Prince Harry and Doreen Lawrence's £50million phone hacking case against the Daily Mail was yesterday demolished by a judge.

In a 'momentous victory' for the free Press, the Mail's journalists were completely exonerated when allegations they hacked, bugged and blagged to get stories were thrown out in full.

Paul Dacre, Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Mail's publisher Associated Newspapers, hailed the landmark ruling as 'an overwhelming vindication of our journalism'.

Mr Justice Nicklin's resounding judgment leaves the Duke of Sussex, Baroness Lawrence and their five fellow claimants, including Sir Elton John, on the hook for millions of pounds in costs.

The emphatic result, after a three-month trial, prompted an extraordinary backlash from Harry and Baroness Lawrence, who chose to attack the High Court judge, branding his meticulous findings 'a complete and obvious whitewash'.

In his 436-page ruling, Mr Justice Nicklin – who said Harry had strayed beyond 'factual evidence' while in the witness box – accepted the 'honest', 'credible' and 'impressive' testimony of a parade of Mail staff. 

During the trial, more than 40 journalists had explained the legitimate sourcing of their articles the claimants had alleged came from unlawful activity. 

Hacked Off, which campaigns for tighter controls on the Press, had crowed before the ruling that just 'one finding' would be enough to prove 'devastating' for the Mail.

In the end, the judge found in favour of the newspaper on every single allegation.

Mr Dacre said: 'Today's verdict is not just a victory for Associated's magnificent journalists – several of whom have had a terrible toll imposed on their health and lives – but a free Press generally. Make no mistake: this was a conspiracy, supported by Hacked Off, to destroy a paper.

'The truth is that this trumped-up action – which has cost well over £50million and wasted a huge amount of valuable court time – should never have been brought to trial.'

In a blaze of publicity, the seven claimants had falsely accused dozens of professional reporters and writers of commissioning crimes including phone hacking, burglaries, car bugging, landline phone tapping and placing 'sticky window microphones' on celebrities' homes. None of it was true. 

The extraordinary allegation of burgling homes was struck out before the trial even began.

It was Harry who recruited Baroness Lawrence as a 'trophy' claimant against the newspaper that had tirelessly championed her and successfully campaigned to jail two of her murdered son Stephen's killers.

The campaigners alighted on Baroness Lawrence as a 'national treasure' after suggesting Gary Lineker was unsuitable because 'he has no dead children'.

Encouraged by Harry and anti-Press campaigners, Baroness Lawrence turned on the Mail, accusing the newspaper and its award-winning crime reporter Stephen Wright of landline tapping, blagging, hacking into voicemails and making corrupt payments to serving police officers.

It was all found to be false, and yesterday Mr Wright was comprehensively exonerated.

Mr Justice Nicklin declared Mr Wright a 'truthful' witness whose explanations were 'coherent and plausible', and roundly dismissed the allegation he had corruptly paid police officers. 

When he was editor of the Daily Mail, Mr Dacre wrote the famous front page headline 'Murderers!', which ultimately led to the jailing of two of Stephen's killers.

Mr Dacre said: 'Why Baroness Lawrence – for whom we have always had profound respect and sympathy – chose to turn on both the paper, and the brilliant reporter who campaigned for justice for her son for over two decades, is something I will never be able to comprehend.'

He described Prince Harry as 'a confused and angry young man'.

The judge also hailed the Mail's Royal Editor Rebecca English as 'an impressive and honest witness', and ruled her explanations for where she had sourced stories were 'entirely plausible'. 

He threw out an allegation she had tried to get the flight details of Prince Harry's former girlfriend Chelsy Davy.

The four-year legal battle was launched in 2022 by the duke, 41, Baroness Lawrence, 73, Sir Elton, 79, and his husband David Furnish, 63, model and actress Elizabeth Hurley, 61, actress Sadie Frost, 61, and former Lib Dem MP Sir Simon Hughes, 75. 

They are all jointly liable for any legal costs that may be awarded against them. A hearing to examine who pays what is scheduled for July 29.

Associated Newspapers said: 'We will look to resolve outstanding issues, including the recovery of the costs we have incurred while defending ourselves against this egregious litigation. Mr Justice Nicklin cleared the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday, and dismissed every single one of the 97 allegations made by the claimants.

'In every case, the judge accepted the honesty of our journalists' evidence on how they sourced their stories. This is a magnificent vindication of the Daily Mail's journalism.

'For some of the most outrageous allegations made when the case was launched in a blaze of publicity four years ago… no credible evidence was ever presented.

'As we said at the time, these allegations were "lurid" and "preposterous", and were a fishing expedition by the claimants and their legal teams in a politically-motivated campaign to muzzle the free Press. 

'The reputations of our decent and hard-working journalists were terribly impugned, and today they have been exonerated. As the judgment clearly shows, every single article was legitimately sourced.'

Media lawyer Louis Charalambous called the case 'a calamity for all seven claimants' and said: 'In all likelihood it spells the end of this kind of litigation.'

The claimants' case was initially bankrolled by fascist Oswald Mosley's millionaire son Max, whose donations were subsequently used to 'pay for testimony' from potential witnesses. Also funding the scheme was Geoff Stunt, father of playboy James Stunt.

The plot to 'bring down the Mail' – codenamed Operation Bluebird – formed part of a political strategy to pressure the Government into holding a second Leveson inquiry into Press reform.

The claimants' own supposed star witness, a private investigator named Gavin Burrows, said his 'confession' statement had been written for him and was 'a pack of lies'. 

He said Baroness Lawrence had been 'duped' into joining the case by the campaigners who boasted suing newspapers was a lucrative 'gravy train'.

In a joint statement with Baroness Lawrence, the Duke of Sussex said the outcome was 'a complete and obvious whitewash… the lengths to which the court has gone to exonerate the Mail is as shocking as it is totally unwarranted'.