London, 20 January (H.S.): Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, joined forces with pop legend Sir Elton John, John's husband David Furnish, and four other prominent figures in London's High Court on Monday, launching a high-stakes trial against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, over allegations of systematic unlawful information gathering spanning from 1993 to 2018.
The claimants assert that ANL orchestrated a covert campaign involving private investigators who intercepted voicemail messages, tapped live phone calls, bugged vehicles and homes with listening devices, and employed blagging—deceptively impersonating individuals to access confidential bank details, medical records, and flight information—to fuel sensational stories.
David's Sherborne, representing the group, described the practices as clear and systematic, spanning at least two decades, with ANL allegedly paying investigators implicated in prior phone-hacking scandals and destroying records to conceal their actions.
In poignant witness statements, Prince Harry detailed the profound toll of 14 specific articles published between 2001 and 2013, claiming they bred distrust and suspicion in his relationships, rendered him paranoid beyond belief, and isolated him amid relentless surveillance.
Sir Elton John and David Furnish recounted outrage upon discovering intrusions into their son Zachary's birth details, including the theft of his birth certificate and medical records, leaving them with a violated sense of home security and endangering their family's safety.
The other plaintiffs—actress Elizabeth Hurley, model Sadie Frost, anti-racism campaigner Doreen Lawrence (mother of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence), and former MP Simon Hughes—allege similar violations, with Hurley set to testify later this month and John and Furnish in early February; Harry is scheduled for Thursday.
This marks Harry's third major press lawsuit, following victories against Mirror Group Newspapers in 2023 and a settlement with News Group Newspapers, framing his crusade as a mission against tabloid excesses linked to his mother Princess Diana's 1997 death.
ANL vehemently denies the lurid and preposterous accusations, with lawyer Antony White asserting that editors and journalists reject claims of habitual misconduct, dismissing private investigator testimonies as unreliable and arguing the case revives a stale public inquiry into press ethics. Expected to last nine weeks, the trial probes whether ANL's emphatic denials masked a culture of intrusion, potentially reshaping accountability for Britain's media landscape.
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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar
