Four UK editors named in Prince Harry's phone-hacking lawsuit against Daily Mail
08/05/2024 18:48
By Sam Tobin, Michael Holden
LONDON, May 8(Reuters) - Four current British newspaper
editors and a string of other senior press figures have been
named in a privacy lawsuit brought by Prince Harry and other
public figures against the publisher of the Daily Mail and the
Mail on Sunday.
Harry, the younger son of King Charles, is one of seven
claimants suing Associated Newspapers over allegations of
voicemail interception – commonly known as phone-hacking – and
other serious privacy breaches dating back 30 years.
He and the other claimants, including singer Elton John and
actors Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost, have named around 70
current and former Associated Newspapers employees whom they
accuse of past involvement in unlawful information gathering.
Victoria Newton and Tony Gallagher, now editors of the Rupert
Murdoch titles the Sun and the Times respectively, are named, as
are the editor of the Sunday Times, Ben Taylor, and the Mail on
Sunday, David Dillon.
Restrictions on identifying them were lifted when Associated
Newspapers filed its written defence at London's High Court,
which was made public on Wednesday.
The publisher denies carrying out unlawful information
gathering, including phone hacking, tapping, bugging and
burglary, or commissioning any illegal acts.
In its defence, it called the allegations "an affront to ...
hard-working professional journalists" whose reputations and
integrity had been "wrongly traduced".
"The stories concerned, many of which were published 20 or
more years ago, and not subject to any complaint at the time,
were the product of responsible journalism based on legitimate
sources," a spokesperson for Associated said.
News UK, a subsidiary of Murdoch's News Corp, declined to
comment.
PHONE HACKING CASES CONCERN SEVERAL MEDIA GROUPS
Newton, the Daily Mail's showbiz editor in the early 2000s, is
also named in separate, long-running litigation against News
Group Newspapers (NGN), the publisher of the Sun and the
now-defunct News of the World, which was shut down in 2011.
The phone-hacking scandal emerged more than a decade ago,
prompting a public inquiry into the ethics of the press and
several criminal trials.
Harry has brought several lawsuits against British media
organisations as part of his "mission" to purge executives and
editors whom he accuses of spreading lies and intruding into
people's lives.
The prince blames British media for the death of his mother
Princess Diana in a 1997 car crash, and has accused UK
newspapers of hostile and racist attacks on his American wife
Meghan, which were cited as a factor in their decision to quit
royal duties and move to California in March 2020.
In February, Harry accepted substantial damages to settle his
case against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) – publisher of the
Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People - having become
the first senior British royal to give evidence in 130 years.
He could return to the witness box next year if his lawsuit
against NGN goes to trial.
(Reporting by Sam Tobin and Michael Holden; Editing by Kevin
Liffey)
((mailto:Sam.Tobin@thomsonreuters.com;))