Prince Harry, Elton John sue major U.K. media group for ‘gross’ privacy breach
Global News
The lawsuit claims the publisher hired private investigators to install listening devices in the homes and cars of several celebrities and public figures.
Several high-profile figures, including the U.K.’s Prince Harry and singer Elton John, are suing the publisher of the Daily Mail newspaper in Britain, alleging phone tapping and other major breaches of privacy.
Elizabeth Hurley, Sadie Frost, Baroness Doreen Lawrence of Clarendon and John’s husband, David Furnish, are among others listed in the lawsuits against Associated Newspapers, reports Reuters.
According to Variety, which obtained the court documents, there are three lawsuits in total filed in London’s High Court.
A release from the Hamlins law firm (which is representing Prince Harry and Frost), says these “individuals have become aware of compelling and highly distressing evidence that they have been the victims of abhorrent criminal activity and gross breaches of privacy by Associated Newspapers.”
The lawsuit also claims the publisher is responsible for “hiring private investigators to secretly place listening devices inside people’s cars and homes,” impersonating individuals to obtain private medical information, including treatment centres and private hospitals, paying police officials for sensitive information, as well as using “illicit means and manipulation” to access credit history information, transactions and bank accounts.
“They have now therefore banded together to uncover the truth, and to hold the journalists responsible fully accountable, many of whom still hold senior positions of authority and power today,” Hamlins said in its statement.
The publisher, which operates several tabloid newspapers and sites including the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday and the Mail Online, told Al Jazeera it “utterly and unambiguously” denies the claims.
“We utterly and unambiguously refute these preposterous smears, which appear to be nothing more than a preplanned and orchestrated attempt to drag the Mail titles into the phone-hacking scandal concerning articles up to 30 years old,” a spokesman for the publisher said.
