Prosecutors chase the paparazzi over Kate pics

Nanterre (France): French prosecutors asked a court on Tuesday to impose a heavy fine on celebrity magazine Closer if it is found guilty of invading the privacy of Britain’s Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, by publishing topless photos of her in 2012. The images showed the Duchess sunbathing topless while on holiday in the south of France at the couple’s private villa. Prince William and Kate are seeking $1.6 million (1.5 million Euros) in damages from Closer. Closer editor Laurence Pieau; Ernesto Mauri, chief executive of Italian publisher Mondadori— the magazine’s owner; and two photographers from a Paris agency who are suspected of taking the pictures appeared at a court hearing here to answer charges brought under French privacy laws.

The two photographers denied having taken the photos saying they had been unable to find out where the royal couple were staying.

“We went round and round looking for bodyguards, British cars ... We didn’t see anybody,” one of the photographers, Cyril Moreau, told the court.

According to court documents, mobile phone records showed that the two photographers were in the vicinity of the house at the time.

A lawyer for the magazine sought to justify publication of the photos on public interest grounds saying they disproved rumours circulating at the time that Middleton might be anorexic.

Jean Veil, lawyer for the Duchess of Cambridge, said that article which accompanied the photos was only a pretext for publishing the pictures.