Prince Harry arrives at the High Court to hear Associated Newspapers over ‘hacking allegations’

Prince Harry, Sir Elton John, his husband David Furnish and other public figures suing Mail newspapers came before the High Court today over a case in which they allege they were the target of hacking.

Publisher Associated Newspapers categorically denies the claims made by a group including the Duke, Sir Elton and Baroness Doreen Lawrence.

Harry, in a black suit and blue tie, smiled as he arrived at the Royal Courts of Justice on The Strand after an overnight flight to London from the United States. Actress Sadie Frost was also on trial.

Prince Harry’s arrival at court was caught by TV cameras and photographers, with Sky News pointing out that the Duke did not testify but chose to come through the main entrance, unlike Miss Frost, Sir Elton and Mr Furnish, they used a side entrance.

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, arrives at the High Court in London today

Sir Elton John arrives at the Royal Courts of Justice this afternoon, followed by his husband David Furnish (top left).

The judge is told that Associated, which publishes the Daily Mail, the Mail on Sunday and MailOnline, has been involved in phone tapping, car tapping and other illegal activities.

The publisher said it will vigorously defend itself if the case goes to court. Today’s hearing, which is expected to last four days, is a pre-trial hearing at which the publisher is asking Mr Justice Nicklin to dismiss the claims.

The Duke of Sussex and Miss Frost sat behind their solicitors and listened intently as the Court 76 hearing began. They weren’t expected to speak.

The seven plaintiffs filed their lawsuit last year. Her attorney, David Sherborne, alleged in written submissions to the court that the newspaper group “illegally tapped voicemail messages, tapped live landline calls, obtained private information… and used private investigators to commit these unlawful information-gathering acts on its behalf.”

Associated Newspapers has said it “completely and unequivocally” denies what it called “absurd libel” and an “orchestrated attempt to get the titles of the mail into the pulling phone” labeled ‘hacking scandal’.

The Mail campaigned to bring the killers of Baroness Lawrence’s son Stephen to justice. In its statement last October, the publisher said it had “the greatest respect and admiration” for Baroness Lawrence and was saddened that she had been persuaded to join the action by “whoever is cynically and unscrupulously orchestrating these claims”. .

Sadie Frost was also at the Royal Courts of Justice at the start of the four-day pre-trial hearing

The newspaper’s lawyers are making three motions in the preliminary proceedings.

One is to urge the judge to drop the case on the basis that all claims relate to events said to have taken place up to 30 years ago. By law, data protection claims must be made within six years.

The second request relates to documents – accounting records – that were confidentially delivered by the Mail to the Leveson Inquiry 12 years ago. Those documents are now being used in the case — in violation of a confinement order and confidentiality commitments given to the investigation, the newspaper group says.

The third request – which the judge granted because it was “justified” – grants anonymity to the journalists named in the requests until the court decides whether to proceed with the case.

Mr Justice Nicklin said the restrictions were “temporary” and stressed: “We are only dealing with the early stages of this claim.” He said his order was justified and meant that “the public was best served and the rights of individuals.” to be protected”. He said it would prevent “one side of the allegations being made while the other side is absent”.

The newspaper said its motion was not an attempt to limit open justice but to prevent respected journalists’ reputations from being tarnished if the case does not go to trial. If the case went to court, the journalists would be named, but at that stage they would have the opportunity to defend themselves.