Harry’s privacy breach claim against tabloids in court
The trial of Prince Harry and several other high-profile figures against the publisher of the Daily Mail over allegations of illegal collection of information is set to begin in Britain’s Supreme Court.
Harry, Elton John, husband David Furnish, campaigner Doreen Lawrence, politician Simon Hughes and actresses Sadie Frost and Liz Hurley are taking action against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL).
The group alleges that the broadcaster carried out or commissioned illegal activities such as hiring private detectives to plant listening devices in cars, “spoofing” private recordings, and accessing private phone conversations.
ANL, which also publishes the Mail on Sunday, has vehemently denied any wrongdoing.
The trial before Judge Nicklin will take place at the Royal Courts of Justice from 10.30am on Monday and will last nine weeks.
The group began filing a lawsuit against ANL in 2022, with documents laying out the allegations naming dozens of journalists, including some national newspaper editors.
In 2023, ANL failed to have cases dismissed from hearing on the grounds that the cases were “time-barred” or brought too late.
In written submissions to the hearing in May of that year, ANL’s Adrian Beltrami KC said the legal proceedings were “obsolete”.
He also said people must prove that they did not know or could not have previously discovered that they might have filed a lawsuit alleging misuse of their private information.
The group’s attorney, David Sherborne, said at the hearing that the illegal acts in the claim included illegally intercepting voicemail messages, tapping live landline calls and obtaining medical records.
“These cover a period from 1993 to 2011 and even continue until 2018,” he said.
Judge Nicklin rejected ANL’s bid to dismiss the claims in November 2023, ruling that the broadcaster had not dealt a “knockout blow” to the claims.
He concluded that each of the group had a “real prospect” of showing that ANL had concealed “relevant facts” that would have enabled them to take action against the broadcaster earlier.
There were multiple preliminary hearings on the claim; these included a hearing in November 2024 in which Lady Lawrence was heard to have been “warned” of a potential legal claim by a message from Harry.
Harry has previously taken legal action against other newspaper publishers over allegations of illegal dossier collection.
He was awarded 140,600 stg (US$280,300) in damages by a judge from Mirror Group Newspapers in 2023, and he filed a lawsuit against News Group Newspapers, publisher of the Sun and the now-defunct News Of The World.
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