Prince Harry launches bid to attraction towards rulings in £50m telephone hacking case
The Duke of Sussex is joined by Baroness Doreen Lawrence, Sir Elton John, his husband David Furnish and actresses Liz Hurley and Sadie Frost in the bid toappeal against the rulings
Prince Harry at the high court(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Prince Harry is among a group of high profile names to have launched a Court of Appeal bid to challenge a judge’s rulings in their unsuccessful phone hacking case. The Duke of Sussex is joined by Baroness Doreen Lawrence and Sir Elton John in the bid.
They previously sued the publisher of the Daily Mail, Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), over allegations of unlawful information-gathering. They accused them of voicemail interception, landline tapping, and obtaining information by deception.
ANL strongly denied the claims, which were heard at an 11-week trial in London earlier this year. Judge Mr Justice Nicklin dismissed all the cases in a judgment on July 7.
Liz Hurley at the High Court(Image: PA)
In a decision in August, the judge ruled that the group had to pay £9,544,355 within seven days as an initial contribution to the publisher’s costs ahead of further hearings to determine the total sum.
Mr Justice Nicklin also said that ANL’s costs should be determined on an indemnity basis, which is more favourable to the publisher in terms of the amount it can recover, aside from where orders had already been made.
On Friday, a spokesperson for the group, which also includes actresses Liz Hurley and Sadie Frost, said: “We confirm that the claimants have today filed applications with the Court of Appeal for permission to appeal the judgments of Mr Justice Nicklin in respect of his dismissal of their claims and the indemnity costs order.
A bid to appeal against the rulings had been filed at the Court of Appeal.(Image: NEIL HALL/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)
“The claimants respectfully disagree with those unprecedented decisions, which they consider to be legally and factually flawed.”
Court staff also confirmed on Friday that a bid to appeal against the rulings had been filed at the Court of Appeal.
Barristers for the group had alleged at trial that private investigators, freelance journalists and staff at ANL carried out acts including voicemail interception, landline tapping and obtaining information by deception – also known as “blagging”.
But lawyers for the publisher said that Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday journalists provided a “compelling account of a pattern of legitimate sourcing of articles”, including friends and “leaky” social circles, press officers and spokespeople, as well as previous reporting, freelance journalists and stories from other newspapers and news agencies.
