Prince Harry received some welcome good news today as a High Court judge allowed his claims against the publisher of the Daily Mail to continue. Elton John and Baroness Doreen Lawrence also got the go ahead.
The trio are among a group of high-profile individuals – including David Furnish, Sadie Frost, Liz Hurley and Sir Simon Hughes – who are bringing legal action against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL).
They have accused the publisher of allegedly carrying out or commissioning unlawful activities such as hiring private investigators to place listening devices inside cars, “blagging” private records and accessing and recording private phone conversations.
At a hearing in March, ANL denies the allegations and attempted to get the case thrown out – but today Mr Justice Nicklin said the publisher had “not been able to deliver a ‘knockout blow’ to the claims of any of these claimants” and that the cases could continue.
Hours after the judgement was given, the trio released a statement saying they were “delighted” by the news.
In a statement issued by the law firm Hamlins on their behalf, the seven people in the claim said they were “delighted with today’s decision which allows our claims over serious criminal activity and gross breaches of privacy by the Mail titles to proceed to trial”.
The statement continued: “The High Court has dismissed ‘without difficulty’ the attempt by Associated Newspapers, publisher of The Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday and the Mail Online, to throw these cases out.
“Indeed, the judge found that each of our claims had a real prospect of showing there was concealment of unlawful acts by the Mail titles and that this could not have been discovered until recently. Our claims can now proceed to trial.
“As we have maintained since the outset, we bring our claims over the deplorable and illegal activities which took place over many years, including private investigators being hired to place secret listening devices inside our cars and homes, the tapping of our phone calls, corrupt payments to police for inside information, and the illegal accessing of our medical information from hospitals and financial information from banks.
“We intend to uncover the truth at trial and hold those responsible at Associated Newspapers fully accountable.”
In their own statement following the decision, ANL said they “look forward” to establishing in court that the group had made “lurid” claims including phone-hacking and burglaries for hire.
The publisher also welcomed the judge’s decision that unpublished ledgers given to the Leveson Inquiry into the practices and ethics of the British press could not be used without Governmental permission, calling it a “significant victory”.
