Written by Michael Holden and Sam Tobin
LONDON (Reuters) – Prince Harry’s legal battle against Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper group begins in the High Court in London on Tuesday, as Prince Harry seeks a ruling that senior figures knew about and covered up widespread wrongdoing.
Harry, along with former senior MP Tom Watson, is suing News Group Newspapers over alleged illegal activities carried out by journalists and private investigators working for the defunct The Sun and News of the World newspapers, from 1996 to 2011.
The prince says his mission is not the money, but to get to the truth, after other plaintiffs settled cases to avoid the risk of a multi-million pound legal bill that could be imposed even if they win in court but reject NGN’s offer.
Harry, who is due to appear as a witness himself in February, said last month: “One of the main reasons for achieving this is accountability, because I am the last person who can actually achieve this.”
NGN has paid hundreds of millions of pounds to victims of phone hacking and other illegal information collected by the News of the World, and has settled more than 1,300 lawsuits involving well-known celebrities, politicians, sports figures and ordinary people who were connected to them or major events.
Harry’s legal team said in previous court documents that his older brother Prince William, the heir to the throne, settled his case against NGN in 2020 for a “very large sum of money.”
While Murdoch closed the News of the World in 2011, the publisher has always rejected allegations of any illegal activity at the Sun, and says it will fully defend the claims.
The eight-week trial will initially consider “general issues” such as the extent of phone hacking and illegal information gathering in newspapers.
Harry’s team will argue that senior executives and editors knew the illegal behavior was widespread, they claim they misled police, made false statements to a public inquiry into media ethics conducted from 2011 to 2012, and instigated a widespread cover-up by deleting millions. From articles. Emails.
An NGN spokesperson said: “This claim is false and unsustainable, and is strongly denied.” “NGN will call a number of witnesses including technicians, lawyers and senior staff to dispute this claim.”
In addition to Harry, witnesses who are due to be called, or who have given evidence to the claimants, include former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, actors Hugh Grant and Sienna Miller, singer Lily Allen, and Heather Mills, the ex-wife of Paul McCartney.