Prince Harry and other famous names are seeking ‘very substantial’ damages over claims of wrong-doing by newspapers, the High Court heard on Monday.
The Duke of Sussex claims he was targeted by journalists from the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday, who allegedly commissioned private detectives to hack his voicemail messages.
Harry and six other public figures – including Baroness Lawrence, mother of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence – are all seeking damages over allegations of unlawful information gathering.
Associated Newspapers, which publishes both titles, denies the claims and insists its journalists relied on legitimate information for reporting.
During their closing speech at the 11-week trial, lawyers for Harry, 41, and the other claimants said they had ‘made good’ their case against the newspapers.
In written legal arguments, David Sherborne, for the claimants, said: ‘Each of the claimants is entitled to a very substantial award of damages to compensate them for wrongs committed.’
But lawyers for the newspapers said the articles at the centre of the case were the product of ‘ordinary, legitimate journalism’ rather than unlawful activity.
Antony White KC, for the newspapers, said more than 40 Associated journalists – who he described as ‘respectable, mature, career journalists of good character’ – had been accused of commissioning unlawful hacking
Prince Harry, pictured in January, is seeking ‘very substantial’ damages over claims of wrong-doing by newspapers, the High Court heard on Monday
He told the trial it seemed ‘improbable to vanishing’ that they had not only carried out unlawful acts, but had then all been willing to give evidence at the High Court.
Mr White said: ‘Ordinary, legitimate journalism… is usually more likely than phone hacking, or phone tapping, or other forms of unlawful information gathering.’
In written legal submissions, Mr White said the privacy claim was part of a ‘political campaign’ by Press reform group Hacked Off.
The group was driven by an ambition to lobby the Government to reopen the Leveson Inquiry into Press standards, and had recruited ‘national treasures’ to win public sympathy, he said.
Claimants in the case include musician Sir Elton John, actress Liz Hurley and Baroness Lawrence, 73, who Mr White described as a ‘trophy claimant’ for the group.
The Labour peer, 73, was recruited to join the legal action based on a purported ‘confession’ by private investigator Gavin Burrows, who has since denied he ever carried out any work for either the Daily Mail or the MoS.
Mr White told the court there was no evidence Mr Burrows had ever worked for the newspaper group and that the most serious allegations had ‘effectively fallen away’.
But Mr Sherborne said they did not need to prove how their private information was unlawfully accessed, leading trial judge Mr Justice Nicklin to state that such an approach ‘looks perilously close to reversing the burden of proof’.
He questioned how journalists could be expected to prove that they had not used unlawful practices, particularly over articles published more than 20 years ago.
The judge told Mr Sherborne: ‘It is for you to demonstrate that there has been a wrong.’
The trial is expected to finish on Tuesday with a ruling due later this year.
