Former Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre to be witness in trial brought by Prince Harry and others | Media
Former Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre, the Duke of Sussex and six other prominent figures will be called as witnesses in a lawsuit against the newspaper’s publishers over allegations of illegal dossier collection, the high court has been told.
Associated Newspapers Limited’s (ANL) Antony White KC said Dacre, 77, who is now editor-in-chief of ANL’s DMG Media, and Peter Wright, a former editor of the Mail on Sunday, could be called as early defense witnesses in the trial, which is scheduled to begin on January 19.
White told the judge, Mr Justice Nicklin, at the pre-trial hearing that it was “critically important for a number of reasons that Mr Dacre and Mr Wright were able to get to the top first” to deal with the “critically important” claims before sending their troops into battle.
David Sherborne, for the plaintiffs, said ANL wanted to call Dacre first in relation to “the evidence he gave at the inquiry”, citing the 2011-12 Leveson inquiry into press standards.
The publisher was sued by Prince Harry, Sir Elton John, David Furnish, Liz Hurley, Sadie Frost, campaigner Doreen Lawrence and former politician Sir Simon Hughes.
Plaintiffs allege that ANL engaged in or commissioned illegal activities such as hiring private detectives to plant listening devices in cars, “spoofing” private records, and accessing private telephone conversations. ANL vehemently denies the allegations.
The judge warned the plaintiffs’ lawyers that he would not allow the case to “become a far-reaching public inquiry” driven “solely by what the plaintiffs are trying to shed light on.” Nor would he allow “a string of rabbits made out of hats” to ambush witnesses.
His warning came after the plaintiffs’ legal team granted permission for limited use of records detailing private investigator Stephen Whittamore’s dealings with journalists. Sherborne told the judge that ANL kept the two notebooks after they were produced at the Leveson inquiry.
Sherborne argued that the plaintiffs’ inability to use the books was “completely unfair” and a “completely uneven playing field.”
The court previously heard private investigator Gavin Burrows retracted a statement he allegedly made on behalf of the plaintiffs in which he allegedly targeted “hundreds, possibly thousands of people” through voicemail hacking, landline tapping and access to the financial and medical information of a Mail on Sunday journalist.
Burrows claimed that his signature on the affidavit was a “forgery”; this charge was dismissed by Sherborne as “abusive” and “a bizarre inclusion amounting to an attack on parts of the legal team”.
The trial, with legal costs estimated to reach £38 million, is expected to last nine weeks.
