The Duke of Sussex and other high-profile claimants accusing the publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday of unlawful information gathering are “clutching at straws”, a court has heard.
Prince Harry is among seven claimants including Sir Elton John and Liz Hurley alleging Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) committed “grave breaches of privacy” over a 20-year period.
Defending the publisher, Antony White KC argued the reporters behind the stories had provided a “compelling account of a pattern of legitimate sourcing of articles”.
White said in written submissions that the celebrities had “leaky” social circles and that a “pattern of misconduct… is simply not made out”.
The claimants have accused the publisher of “clear, systematic and sustained use of unlawful information gathering” for stories between 1993 and “beyond” 2018, including through private investigators and blagging.
In their joint opening statement on Monday, they accused a string of senior Mail and Mail on Sunday journalists of being “engaged in or complicit in the culture of unlawful information gathering that wrecked the lives of so many”. ANL has denied all wrongdoing.
Joining the duke in bringing the lawsuit against ANL are:
- Actors Liz Hurley and Sadie Frost
- Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish
- Sir Simon Hughes, the former Liberal Democrat MP
- Baroness Doreen Lawrence, a campaigner whose son Stephen Lawrence was murdered in a racist attack in south London in 1993
On Monday, David Sherborne had set out the claims of Frost, Baroness Lawrence, and Prince Harry – who said the alleged behaviour had left him “paranoid beyond belief”.
Prince Harry, Hurley and Sir Simon were present for the second day of the trial at the Royal Courts of Justice on Tuesday, which is expected to last nine weeks.
