Duke has ‘scattergun’ tactic in hacking case
THE Duke of Sussex has been accused of using a “scattergun approach” to his claims of wrongdoing by the publisher of The Sun after adding a “huge” number of fresh allegations to his case.
Prince Harry’s legal team has asked a High Court judge to extend the parameters of his hacking claim against News Group Newspapers (NGN) by in- cluding allegations dating back to 1994.
By expanding the scope of his case to events that happened 30 years ago, the Duke wants the court to consider claims against journalists and articles not included in his current claim. He also wants the court to consider events dating from as recently as 2016, rather than the current 2011 end date of his claim.
During a preliminary hearing yesterday, Mr Justice Fancourt was told that the proposed claims included new categories of alleged wrongdoing by NGN, including the interception of voicemail messages left on landline telephones as well as mobiles, and also listening in live to mobile phone calls.
The Duke claimed NGN eavesdropped on his phone calls and accessed messages on the pager of his late mother Diana, Princess of Wales.
Prince Harry’s legal team says News Group Newspapers (NGN) had a safe containing a 21-page log of pager messages left for the Princess by the art dealer Oliver Hoare, with whom she had an affair in the 1990s.
They also claim private investigators working for the now defunct News of the World used scanning devices to listen in on phone calls, planted bugs or trackers on cars and intercepted voicemail messages left on landline telephones.
In a document submitted to the court David Sherborne, representing Prince Harry, said: “The claimant also brings a claim and seeks relief in relation to the interception of landline calls, the interception of calls from cordless phones and analogue mobile calls, and the interception of landline voicemails, as distinct from phone hacking.”
It added that Princess Diana “was under close surveillance and her calls were being unlawfully intercepted by (NGN), which was known about by its editors and senior executives”.
The 21-page log of about 500 of Princess Diana’s pager messages included some t used to inform articles in the News of the World, it is alleged, including one from 1995 about Mr Hoare’s divorce. It referred to one message in which he told the Princess: “Thinking of you every minute, Love you.”
Lawyers for NGN argued in documents submitted to the court that the Duke was making unspecified allegations dating back decades and they should be barred by the statute of limitations because he could not argue that he had only just found out about them.
The Duke, the actor Hugh Grant and more than 40 others are suing NGN and the News Of The World, over alleged unlawful information gathering and invasion of privacy. A trial has been scheduled for January 2025.
In a written outline of NGN’S defence, barrister Anthony Hudson KC said there was no “cogent link” between the new allegations and those that the court was due to consider. He said: “This scattergun approach does not meet the requirements of … tests in relation to the pleading of similar fact evidence.”