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Prince Harry received an order to conduct broader searches for emails, text messages, and other materials potentially pertinent to his legal battle against Rupert Murdoch’s UK newspaper division. The directive came amidst concerns of potential evidence destruction.
Harry, 39, the younger son of Britain’s King Charles, along with more than 40 others, is suing News Group Newspapers (NGN) over allegations of illegal activities involving journalists and private investigators employed by The Sun and the now-defunct News of the World from the mid-1990s to the mid-2010s.
A trial focusing on some of these claims, possibly including those involving Harry, is scheduled to commence at the High Court in London in January next year. NGN, contesting these allegations, has settled over 1,300 lawsuits and paid substantial sums to victims of phone-hacking by News of the World, consistently denying any wrongdoing by staff at The Sun.
In preparation for the upcoming trial, NGN’s legal team sought a court order compelling Harry to disclose any relevant information within his possession, as well as from his former legal representatives or the royal household, particularly related to his knowledge of alleged unlawful activities before the end of 2013.
Judge Timothy Fancourt expressed concerns about the adequacy of disclosure regarding the ‘knowledge issue’, noting that thus far, only five documents deemed relevant had been produced by Harry’s solicitors. He also observed that the majority of document searching and selection seemed to have been conducted by the duke himself until very recently, which he found inappropriate.
NGN’s lawyer, Anthony Hudson, criticized Harry for allegedly obstructing efforts related to disclosure, describing the process of obtaining potentially relevant emails as highly unsatisfactory. “We have had to compel the claimant to produce these documents,” he remarked.
The legal proceedings underscore ongoing tensions and complexities in the case, with implications for the timeline and evidentiary requirements leading up to the trial.
