Author: Michael Holden and Sam Tobin
LONDON (Reuters) – Prince Harry, Elton John and five other public figures were victims of widespread phone hacking and other illegal conduct conspired by executives and senior journalists at Britain’s powerful Daily Mail newspaper, their lawyers told a court on Monday.
The royal family and other plaintiffs accuse Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Daily Mail, of unlawful conduct and invasion of their privacy from 1993 to 2011 and beyond, in one of the highest-profile civil cases in the UK in years.
Harry, 41, who arrived at court smiling and waving, said in his witness statement that it was “disturbing that my every move, thought or feeling was being followed and monitored just for the Daily Mail to make money from it”.
The Associated Press called the accusations “ridiculous slander” and part of a conspiracy hatched by a wealthy group motivated by a personal hostility to the media. Harry’s anti-media mission
Over nine weeks, the legal teams for Harry, singer John and other claimants – John’s husband David Furnish, actors Liz Hurley and Sadie Frost, anti-racism campaigner Doreen Lawrence and former MP Simon Hughes – will argue that private investigators directed by the Daily Mail illegally obtained material about them.
Their lawyer, David Sherborne, said the actions included hacking voicemails, tapping landlines and obtaining private information through deception, known as “bragging.”
“There was a clear, systematic and ongoing use of unlawful information gathering by both the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday,” Sherborne said at the start of the trial at London’s High Court.
Harry, who has long blamed the media for his mother’s death in a 1997 Paris car crash as her car sped away from paparazzi, sat behind his lawyers in court with Hurley, Frost and Hughes and listened.
Those accused of misconduct include managing editors and senior journalists, including current editors of The Mail on Sunday and The Sun.
Examples include finding out the precise travel plans of Harry’s ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy and a report on “private and intimate conversations” between Harry and his brother Prince William regarding statements about photos of their late mother, the claimants’ written submissions said.
The submission cited witness testimony from Harry, whose case is based on 14 published newspaper stories, in which he said the invasion had been “terrifying” for loved ones and caused “huge strain” on personal relationships.
Harry gives evidence
For two decades, British media had been shrouded in a phone-hacking scandal that had never been implicated before, until the case was opened in 2022. It denies wrongdoing and says the lawsuit should have been filed sooner.
It said the former private investigator’s evidence was not credible. Some have been convicted, and the AP said the plaintiffs’ legal teams have paid for some of the testimony.
“Allegations that these practices by United Publishers are ‘customary and widespread’ are simply not true,” the publisher said in written submissions.
Judge Matthew Nicklin’s conclusion would not only put reputations at risk but also set legal bills running into the tens of millions of dollars.
For Harry, this is the final part of his legal war against Britain’s tabloids, where he has said it is his mission to clean up the media and hold senior figures accountable.
He has successfully sued Mirror Group (MGN) for damages while winning an apology and admission of some wrongdoing from Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper arm, which settled ahead of a trial a year ago.
The prince will give evidence on Thursday and become the first member of the British royal family in 130 years to appear in the witness box during the 2023 MGN trial.
(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by David Holmes and Andrew Cawthorn)
