The Duke of Sussex and a group of other household names are set to find out whether they have won their High Court cases against the Daily Mail’s publisher.
During an 11-week trial earlier this year, the High Court in London heard claims brought by the group – which also includes Baroness Doreen Lawrence, Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish – against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) of unlawful information-gathering.
These include allegations of voicemail interception, landline tapping and obtaining information by deception – also known as “blagging”, carried out by private investigators, freelance journalists and ANL staff.
ANL strongly denies the claims and defended the case, saying it “has established a complete defence to all parts of the claims on the merits” and that the cases have been brought too late.
The trial concluded at the end of March, with Mr Justice Nicklin now expected to give a written ruling on Tuesday July 7.
Dozens of people gave evidence during the trial in London, including Harry, the rest of the group of household names of Liz Hurley, Sadie Frost and Sir Simon Hughes, as well as many current or former ANL journalists and executives.
During around two hours of cross-examination in January, Harry said he could not complain about some of the 14 articles in his case at the time “because of the institution I was in”.
He also said in his written evidence that “knowingly false” information was added to stories to “put me off the scent”, to conceal unlawful methods, including voicemail interception.
As part of its defence, ANL said that Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday journalists provide a “compelling account of a pattern of legitimate sourcing of articles”, including friends and “leaky” social circles, press officers and spokespersons, as well as previous reporting, freelance journalists and stories from other newspapers and news agencies.
The trial also heard arguments over whether the cases were brought in time as the law states that legal action related to unlawful information-gathering must be launched within six years of someone discovering they could have a claim.
