6 days ago
13
Key events Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature
Analysis: high-stakes trial could have profound effects on UK media
On Monday, Prince Harry’s legal war with the Daily Mail, one of the British media’s most formidable forces, finally came to trial in court 76 of the high court in London.
The prince is joined in his action by some of the most recognisable figures in British life: the singer and songwriter Elton John and his husband, David Furnish; actors Liz Hurley and Sadie Frost; Doreen Lawrence, a Labour peer whose son Stephen was murdered in a racist attack; and former politician Simon Hughes, who once ran to lead the Liberal Democrats.
Their opponent is the publisher of Britain’s bestselling newspaper, with its long-serving editor-in-chief, Paul Dacre, expected to give evidence.
The allegations against the Daily Mail and its stablemate, the Mail on Sunday, are grave.
Harry and his fellow claimants allege that, as well as intercepting voicemails, the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday also tapped landlines, paid corrupt police officers, blagged medical records and even bugged celebrities’ homes.
The titles’ publisher, Associated Newspapers, has described the claims as “preposterous” and an “affront to the hard-working journalists whose reputations and integrity … are wrongly traduced”.
Prince Harry arrives at court to give evidence
Prince Harry has arrived at the Royal Courts of Justice in London and is due to begin giving evidence at 11.30am.
He arrived at the court building in a black Range Rover and waved at a row of rain-soaked reporters as he met his legal team.
Here are some photos of the royal arriving:
Prince Harry feels targeted for ‘standing up’ to Daily Mail publisher
The Duke of Sussex believes he has faced a “sustained campaign” of attacks for having “the temerity to stand up” to the publisher of the Daily Mail, the high court heard on Tuesday.
Lawyers for Prince Harry made the claim as they set out 14 articles about him they allege were secured using unlawful information-gathering by Associated Newspapers Ltd, which publishes the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday.
Harry will now appear in court today to give evidence – a day earlier than expected – as he and six other prominent claimants attempt to disprove the newspaper group’s repeated and vehement denials that it ever engaged in unlawful information-gathering.
David Sherborne, the barrister representing the duke and other claimants, claimed flight details and sensitive information that had serious implications for Harry’s security had been obtained unlawfully.
“In his witness statement for the trial, the Duke of Sussex speaks of the impact which this has had on him, the distress, the paranoia and the other feelings that it generated,” Sherborne told the high court in London.
“But given what we’ve seen, is it any wonder that he feels that way, or as he explains, that he feels he has endured a sustained campaign of attacks against him for having had the temerity to stand up to Associated in the way that he has so publicly done?”
The duke’s concern about his treatment emerged as Sherborne set out key parts of the case against the publisher. He highlighted articles he said bore the “hallmarks of unlawful information-gathering”.
Prince Harry due to give evidence in court at 11.30am
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of Prince Harry v Daily Mail, on the day that that the former is due to give evidence in court.
A spokesman for Harry said the duke was expected at court at 11am and would start giving evidence at 11.30am.
Harry, Elton John and his husband David Furnish, campaigner Baroness Doreen Lawrence, politician Simon Hughes, and actresses Sadie Frost and Liz Hurley are all bringing legal action against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) over allegations of unlawful information gathering.
This includes claims that information for articles was obtained by carrying out or commissioning unlawful activities such as phone tapping and “blagging” private records. ANL has strongly denied wrongdoing and is defending the claims.
We will be bringing you updates throughout the day.
