David Furnish says alleged stealing of information by Daily Mail is an ‘abomination’
Filmmaker David Furnish has described the alleged theft and tapping of his and Sir Elton John’s landline as “disgusting” during a High Court case against the Daily Mail publisher.
Furnish and her husband, singer-songwriter Sir Elton, are among several prominent figures, including the Duke of Sussex and actress Liz Hurley, who have taken legal action against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL).
The couple allege that ten articles published between 2002 and 2015 were based on illegally obtained information, specifically citing medical details.
ANL has strongly denied wrongdoing, with its lawyers previously claiming in court that Sir Elton and Furnish’s claims were “unsupported by any evidence before the court and are completely unfounded”.
On the fourteenth day of the trial on Thursday, Furnish gave evidence remotely via video link at the court in London.
In his written statement, the producer said he and Sir Elton “have a long and difficult history with The Mail”.
He continued: “They have been actively homophobic for years.
“While The Mail is partly keeping up with the times, it has also published countless judgmental and narrow-minded stories about us – pieces clearly designed to undermine who we are and how we live our lives.
“It’s disgusting to know that stolen information enabled them to do this to us by sending private detectives on us and tapping landlines and recording our live phone calls.”
Antony White KC and Catrin Evans KC, both from ANL, said in their written submissions that the social circles of many of the family names bringing the allegations had been “leaked”.
They continued: “Friends and friends of friends or colleagues regularly provided information about the plaintiffs’ private lives to the press, on a confidential basis, for obvious reasons.”
Lawyers later said Sir Elton’s spokesman regularly provided information about their lives, including health information, to the media, including Associated journalists at the time.
When asked about his social circle in his cross-examination on Thursday, Evans suggested Furnish would be “happy to chat to journalists from time to time”.
Furnish responded: “I really try to avoid them at all costs.”
“Individuals in your social circle probably thought it would be okay to do the same thing,” he later said.
Furnish replied: “I disagree with that conclusion.”
Ms Evans then asked whether the filmmaker agreed that his social circle was “wider than his friends and family”, and Furnish told the court people who were not his friends could not know his private information.
Sir Elton and Furnish have two children, Zachary and Elijah, and both were born using a surrogate mother.
The court was previously told the couple felt their child’s safety had been “violated” by allegations of illegal news gathering, including claims that Zachary’s birth certificate had been “stolen” before he received a copy.
Discussing a related article in her written statement, Furnish said: “The Mail used the birth certificate story to feed their homophobic agenda.
“They paired this with unflattering photos of Elton and me leaving a costume party and taunted us with a caption that portrayed me as ‘mom’ and Elton as ‘dad’.
“It was extremely aggressive but completely in line with their attitude towards us.”
In their written submission, ANL’s lawyers said the article “completely legitimately” derived from previously published reports on the child’s birth, information from the local registry office and a statement from the Surrogacy Center agency.
In her oral evidence, Furnish told the court that neither she nor Sir Elton had given the surrogacy agency permission to make this statement, adding: “We had a very carefully planned media strategy.”
Furnish was later questioned about another article in which he and Sir Elton claimed the singer had to cancel tour dates for medical reasons in 2009.
Ms Evans said the medical information in the article was taken from a press release, media reports and statements from spokespeople.
He then asked: “Would you accept that the article you allege here actually quotes a public statement made on Sir Elton’s own website and also contains further reporting of information set out by you or Sir Elton’s spokesman?”
In response, Furnish said: “The concerning information in the article was information regarding the treatment Elton had undertaken.
“You have to reassure fans when you cancel show dates, but you don’t want to have to explain 100% of what’s going on medically.
“He had to undergo a series of x-rays and scans… What was surprising and concerning was the specific detail in that article about the treatment he received.”
The hearing before Mr Justice Nicklin is planned to conclude in March, with a decision to be given in writing at a later date.
