Prince Harry has attended the High Court for the final day of his privacy case against Associated Newspapers, the publisher of the Daily Mail.
The Duke of Sussex arrived through the building’s side entrance around 1.45 pm. David Furnish, Sir Elton John’s husband, is also in the courtroom today.
It is the fourth day of the preliminary hearing, where claims are being brought by a group of seven high-profile individuals – including the Duke of Sussex, Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish, actress Liz Hurley and Sadie Frost – against Associate Newspapers Limited (ANL.)
The claimants are alleging that the Daily Mail used several methods of unlawful information gathering, including commissioning “breaking and entry into private property”, phone-tapping and obtaining medical records.
The allegations range between 1993 to 2011 “even continuing beyond until 2018”, David Sherborne, barrister for the group has said in written submissions.
ANL’s lawyers argue that the individuals involved in the case could have brought claims before October 2016, and were too late to have them heard now.
Adrian Beltrami KC, barrister for ANL, has argued that the claims are “stale” and has argued that the individuals had to prove that they did not know earlier, or could not have discovered earlier, they might have had a claim against the company for alleged misuse of private information.
In witness statement earlier submitted to the hearing, the Duke of Sussex said the Royal Family withheld information about alleged phone hacking in order not to open a “can of worms”.
He also claimed he was “largely deprived” of important parts of his teenage years due to “suspicion and paranoia” caused by the publication of “unlawful articles”.
ANL, which also owns the MailOnline and The Mail on Sunday, strenuously denies all the claims.
i is part of Harmsworth Media, a sister division of ANL’s owner dmg media, and has complete editorial independence.
