Sir Elton John says it was “truly sickening” to discover medical details of his son’s birth had been obtained by a private investigator allegedly working for journalists, the High Court has heard.
The singer claims his own medical records were unlawfully accessed after he collapsed on tour, while his home in Windsor was “secretly invaded” with phone taps.
Sir Elton, along with husband David Furnish, are part of a group of high-profile people suing Associated Newspaper Limited (ANL) – publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday – over allegations of widespread unlawful newsgathering.
In a statement to the High Court, the Tiny Dancer star, 75, said they discovered the alleged intrusion in 2021 after being tipped off by actress and friend Liz Hurley.
“There have been many unacceptable features of this claim for David and me - the exploitation of love, connection, trust, and bonds to find out information shared in confidence.
“The secrecy and invisibility of such evil acts that we never had a chance of catching or detecting or putting a stop to, which we would have done immediately had we known what was happening. The violation of our home and the safety of our children and loved ones.”
The star hit out at “deliberate invasion into my medical health”, telling the court he has seen evidence of a private investigator reporting she is “doing my medicals”.
“She even knew that I collapsed on a plane”, said Sir Elton. “This recent discovery continues to outrage me.”
He said details of the birth on Christmas Day 2010 of their surrogate son Zachary, as well as childcare arrangement, had also been obtained, branding it: “Abhorrent and outside even the most basic standards of human decency.”
Furnish told the court they believed one story had come from an interview with someone who worked at the clinic where Zachary was born, after seeing information attributed by the newspaper to a “source at the building”.
Addressing the alleged invasion of his own medical treatment, Sir Elton said: “I am a man with a lot of energy and at 75 I am still on tour doing what I love. That is performing to the very best of my ability for my fans who I love and respect and want to give everything to on stage. It is what they deserve.
“I have a fast schedule and have been flying between countries every week for decades. There have been moments when this has taken its toll, but that is and always was private.
“It was not information I wanted my sons, my support network, or my fans to worry about.
“It was private and apart from being illegal and immoral for the Mail to be looking around and intruding into this area of my life, it was inhumane.
“I have devoted my life to my music but this does not mean deeply personal things which I have a right to deal with in private are fair game. In human decency, they are not. In law, they are not.
“The fact that they did this to our son Zachary when he was a baby, just born, shows just how little integrity and morality exists within this newspaper group. It has been truly sickening for David and me to discover now.”
ANL denies all allegations that its journalists and executives directed private investigators to use unlawful newsgathering methods, including phone hacking, bugging, and blagging confidential records.
Sir Elton and his husband claim their home in Windsor was targeted, with the landlines allegedly being “tapped” for the Mail on Sunday as well as hacking aimed at their gardener and Elton’s right-hand-man.
Sir Elton, Furnish, Hurley, actress Sadie Frost, Prince Harry, ex-MP Sir Simon Hughes, and Baroness Doreen Lawrence are together bringing the privacy claim against the newspaper publisher.
ANL says investigator Gavin Burrows, whose alleged activities lie at the heart of some of the claims, has signed a statement denying illegal work at the behest of journalists.
“l am aware that the particulars of claim…allege that the Defendant instructed or commissioned me and/or my various companies to conduct unlawful information gathering on the Defendant’s behalf”, he wrote. “This is false.”
ANL is applying for the claims to be thrown out for being brought outside the usual time limit. It argues civil damages cases could have been mounted years earlier when it is said there was sufficient evidence available of alleged wrongdoing.
In his statement, Furnish said the couple were “appalled and deeply disturbed” by news in 2021 - and no earlier – that they may have been targeted by agents for the Mail newspapers.
“The idea that our private home, our sacred private space, had been secretly invaded and in a way we had never even considered possible or that our cameras or watchmen or any of our security measures never stood a chance of catching was sickening”, he said.
“It devastated us.”
The hearing at the High Court continues.
