Prince Harry was left feeling “paranoid beyond belief” after the publisher of the Daily Mail tracked his “every move, thought or feeling”, a major court case against the Mail publisher has been told.
The Duke of Sussex said alleged methods carried out by Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) – including obtaining flight details and phone conversations regarding ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy – created a “massive strain” on his personal relationships and created “distrust and suspicion”.
King Charles’ youngest son is joined by Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish, campaigner Baroness Doreen Lawrence, politician Sir Simon Hughes and actors Sadie Frost and Liz Hurley in alleging ANL had a practice of “clear systematic and sustained use of unlawful information gathering”.
Their lawyers claim employees of the company, which publishes the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday, listened to phone calls and voice messages while also obtaining medical records by deception between 1993 and 2018.
This included one journalist writing a draft story about Ms Frost’s ectopic pregnancy that “not even her sisters or mother knew about” after allegedly accessing her medical information, the court heard.
ANL emphatically denies all claims of unlawful practices. It says celebrities had “leaky social circles” and that disclosures to the press about the private life of the Duke of Sussex in particular were “a not uncommon occurrence”.
In written submissions, Harry said: “I find it deeply troubling that Associated used phrases such as ‘sources’, ‘friends’ and the like as a device to hide unlawful information gathering.”
The High Court heard that the alleged unlawful information gathering in the duke’s case is related to 14 articles between 2001 and 2013. Harry, who has flown back to Britain from his new home in California for the case, is expected to take the witness stand on Thursday.
His barrister, David Sherborne, told the court: “The Duke of Sussex has been caused great distress by each and every episode of unlawful information gathering against him by Associated or on its behalf, and the fruits of that unlawful information gathering in the 14 unlawful articles of which he complains.”
He added: “It is evident from the articles and the evidence of the Duke of Sussex that the targeting of him has had a profoundly distressing effect, with episodes of pleaded unlawful information gathering described as ‘disturbing to feel that my every move, thought or feeling was being tracked and monitored just for the Mail to make money out of it’, ‘intrusion (that) was terrifying’ for loved ones, creating a ‘massive strain’ on personal relationships while invidiously ‘creating distrust and suspicion’, and ‘driving me paranoid beyond belief, isolating me’.”
Antony White KC, for ANL, said the duke had discussed his private life in the media, while information about his life was also provided by Palace spokespeople.
Opening the case, Mr Sherborne told the court that the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday have been engaged in unlawful information gathering over “at least two decades”.
He added: “There is evidence, indisputable evidence, in the documents that Associated journalists and senior executives were commissioning and approving the acquisition and use of unlawfully obtained information, and they must have known that.
“That is why we say this was no clean ship, far from it.”
Mr Sherborne said ANL took a “clear and unequivocal one” position at the 2011 Leveson Inquiry, which followed the closure of the News of the World tabloid, and denied any unlawful acts.
Mr Sherborne said: “They emphatically denied that there had been any unlawful activities at all. In short, they swore that they were a clean ship.”
But he continued: “Associated knew that these emphatic denials were not true. They knew they had skeletons in their closet.”
The claimants allege in their written submissions that the publisher had a “culture of unlawful information gathering that wrecked the lives of so many”.
Unlawful activities said to have occurred include hiring private investigators to place listening devices inside cars, “blagging” private records and accessing private phone conversations. This also includes illegally intercepting voicemail messages, listening to live landline calls and obtaining medical records.
Mail on Sunday journalist Katie Nicholl allegedly accessed Ms Frost’s medical information after she underwent an operation at a private hospital for an unplanned ectopic pregnancy with her then-boyfriend Jackson Scott, during the period of her divorce from actor Jude Law.
Despite only her “closest friends” being aware of the pregnancy, these details were recorded by Ms Nicholl in the draft article. The barrister said: “How did they know she was treated unless they had access to her voicemail or medical records?”
Baroness Lawrence was allegedly targeted with five “unlawful” articles between 1997 and 2007 as a result of being “extensively” targeted by ANL and private investigators.
In court documents, she said she felt “bitterly let down” by the Daily Mail and “angry” that she had been made to fight in court for three years after her son was murdered in a racist attack in 1993.
“I am a victim all over again, but by people who I thought were my allies and friends,” she said. “I am being made to fight when all I have ever wanted is to be told the plain truth and for justice to be done, and an apology.”
Meanwhile, Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish said they felt their home and the safety of their children had been “violated” and that they are “horrified” that ANL allegedly “used their friendships against them”.
“Both Sir Elton and Mr Furnish underline the outrage they feel in light of Associated’s invasion into medical details surrounding the birth of their son Zachary, and the stealing of their son’s birth certificate ‘before we even had a chance to see it ourselves’.”
ANL lawyer Antony White KC told the court in written submissions: “In relation to almost every article alleged to be the product of phone hacking or phone tapping, Associated is able to call a witness or witnesses to explain how the article was in fact sourced.
“The claimants’ inferential case of phone hacking and phone tapping is met and convincingly rebutted. The pattern of misconduct the claimants seek to establish is simply not made out.”
The high-profile claimants began their action against ANL in 2022. In 2023, ANL failed in a bid to have the cases thrown out for being “time-barred” or brought too late.
Harry has previously brought legal action against other newspaper publishers over allegations of unlawful information gathering. He was awarded £140,600 in damages by a judge from Mirror Group Newspapers in 2023, and settled a claim against News Group Newspapers, the publisher of The Sun and the now-defunct News of the World, last January.
The trial, which is expected to last nine weeks, continues.
