LONDON (AP) 鈥� The third and final round in ‘s battle with the British tabloids began Monday with his lawyer alleging that the Daily Mail and its sister Sunday newspaper engaged in a 鈥渃lear, systematic and sustained use of unlawful information gathering鈥� for two decades.
Attorney David Sherborne said a longstanding culture of hiring private investigators who practiced 鈥渄ark arts鈥� to spy on celebrities for scoops had left Harry distressed and isolated.
It was 鈥渄isturbing to feel that my every move, thought or feeling was being tracked and monitored just for the Mail to make money out of it,鈥� Harry said, according to his lawyer鈥檚 written opening statement.
The intrusions were 鈥渢errifying鈥� for his loved ones, created a 鈥渕assive strain鈥� on his personal relationships, and the distrust and suspicion they caused left Harry 鈥減aranoid beyond belief,鈥� Sherborne said.
Tens of millions of dollars are on the line in the privacy invasion case in which the Duke of Sussex is joined by Elton John, actors Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost, and others who claim the publisher of the Mail hired private investigators to bug their cars, obtain their personal records and eavesdrop on phone calls.
Associated 太子探花papers Ltd. has denied the allegations, called them preposterous and said the articles in question were reported with legitimate sources that included 鈥渓eaky鈥� associates willing to dish dirt on their famous friends.
The prince vs. the publishers
The trial in London鈥檚 High Court is expected to last nine weeks and will see the return of Harry to the witness box Thursday for the second time since he made history in 2023 by becoming the first senior member of the royal family to testify in more than a century.
Harry, wearing a dark blue suit, cheerfully waved at reporters as he entered the court building via a side entrance. He took a seat in the back row of the courtroom near Hurley and Frost as John watched the proceedings online.
The case in the High Court follows two cases Harry brought against the other major tabloids that grew out of the widespread phone hacking scandal in which some journalists intercepted voicemail messages around the turn of this century.
Harry in 2023 that condemned the publishers of the Daily Mirror for 鈥渨idespread and habitual鈥� interception of phone messages. Last year, Rupert Murdoch鈥檚 flagship U.K. tabloid made an for intruding on Harry鈥檚 life for years, and agreed to pay substantial damages to settle .
The litigation is part of Harry’s self-proclaimed mission to reform the media that he blames for the death of his mother, Princess Diana, who was killed in a car crash in 1997 while being pursued by paparazzi in Paris. He also said persistent press attacks on his wife, , led them to leave royal life and move to the United States in 2020.
Defense says 鈥榣eaky鈥� friends among sources of articles
Defense lawyer Antony White said the lawsuits were based on weak inferences by trying to connect articles to payments made to investigators.
But he said witnesses, from editors to reporters who have worked for the newspapers for decades, were 鈥渓ining up鈥� to dispute the allegations and explain their sources, which he said were often very close the subjects of the articles.
鈥淭his is in reality little more than guesswork 鈥� it involves jumping to conclusions based on insufficient evidence, or worse, artificially selecting and presenting evidence to fit the preconceived agenda,鈥� White wrote in his opening statement. 鈥淚t also ignores the fact that references in articles to a 鈥榝riend鈥�, or similar, as a source can be accurate.鈥�
In addition to Harry’s social circle, royal press officers, publicists and freelance journalists and photographers were also good sources, White said.
Associated 太子探花papers also argues that the claims, dating as far back as 1993, were brought too late when the suits were filed in 2022. Judge Matthew Nicklin refused to throw out the cases on those grounds but will reconsider that defense after hearing the evidence.
Skeletons in the closet
Sherborne said the company鈥檚 vigorous denials, destruction of records and 鈥渕asses upon masses of missing documents鈥� had prevented the claimants from learning what the newspapers had done.
鈥淭hey swore that they were a clean ship,鈥� Sherborne said. 鈥淎ssociated knew that these emphatic denials were not true. 鈥� They knew they had skeletons in their closet.鈥�
Sherborne said his clients had not been aware they were phone hacking victims until private eye Gavin Burrows came forward in 2021 to help those he targeted.
Burrows said he 鈥渕ust have done hundreds of jobs鈥� for the Mail between 2000 and 2005, Sherborne said in a previous hearing. Harry, Hurley, Frost, and John and his husband, David Furnish, were 鈥渏ust a small handful of my targets,鈥� Burrows said in a statement read in court.
But Burrows has since disavowed that sworn statement and said he never worked for the Mail.
White said a substantial part of the case collapses without Burrows on the side of the claimants.
鈥淚ndeed, in the case of several of the claimants, their explanations of their 鈥榩ersonal watershed moments鈥� show that without Mr. Burrows they would never have brought their claims,鈥� he said.
But Sherborne, who said other witnesses have said Burrows did work for the newspapers, downplayed the investigator’s significance to his case.
鈥淢r Burrows is just one of a large number of private investigators Associated used and, we say, engaged in unlawful activities,鈥� Sherborne said. 鈥淗e was just the original whistleblower.鈥�
The other claimants are anti-racism activist Doreen Lawrence and former politician Simon Hughes.
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