Some allegations of unlawful information gathering against The Mirror’s publisher in a case featuring the Duke of Sussex are made with a “sense of outrage”, the High Court has heard.
Claims brought by four individuals, including Harry, against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) titles The Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People, entered their third day of a trial on Friday.
The claims include phone hacking, securing information through deception - also known as “blagging” - and hiring private investigators for unlawful activities.
MGN is contesting the cases and has said there is “no evidence, or no sufficient evidence, of voicemail interception in any of these four claims”.
Opening the publisher’s case, Andrew Green KC, for MGN, said some of the allegations were made with “no basis”.
“Many of the allegations highlighted were made with a sense of outrage,” he continued.
The barrister said the third parties - including private investigators and freelance journalists - with “expertise” in using the electoral roll, registers of births, deaths and marriages, and Companies House were used for “plainly not unlawful” activities.
Mr Green later said: “There was absolutely nothing unlawful about searches for publicly accessible material.”
