Nephews bugged billionaire at Ritz hotel over ‘threat of harm to family business’

SIR FREDERICK Barclay’s nephews bugged the conservatory of the Ritz hotel after becoming “seriously concerned” about the billionaire property magnate “posing a significant risk of harm” to the family business, according High Court documents.

The 85-year-old is involved in a bitter legal battle with three of his twin brother Sir David’s sons over 94 hours of secret recordings made over a number of months as part of what his lawyers have described as “commercial espionage on a vast scale”.

Sir Frederick and his daughter Amanda are suing Alistair, Aidan and Howard Barclay, Aidan’s son Andrew, and Philip Peters – a director of a number of companies in the Barclay Group – after the “elaborate system of covert recording” was discovered in January.

Last month, Sir Frederick released footage appearing to show his nephew Alistair handling a listening device which is said to have been used to capture more than 1,000 separate conversations.

The High Court has previously heard that the Ritz was sold for “half the market price” after conversations between Sir Frederick

and a Saudi investor, who was offering £1.3bn for the London landmark, were secretly recorded.

But Aidan and Howard Barclay hit back at that allegation in a public statement last month, accusing Sir Frederick of “consistent, misleading and damaging briefing to the media against us and our family businesses”.

Yesterday the defendants filed their formal defence, saying they thought it was “necessary and reasonable” to bug the Ritz in order to protect the Barclay Group.

All five admit that “the recordings contained private and confidential information” and accepted that Sir Frederick and Amanda are “entitled to general damages” for breach of confidence, misuse of private information and breach of data protection laws. But they deny their actions caused any loss to “the claimants’ economic and/ or financial interests”.