Enrique, Duke of Sussex, attended this Thursday the oral hearing of the lawsuit that he has filed with six other celebrities and public figures against the British media group Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), for alleged “unlawful acts” in obtaining personal information and confidential data. It was the last public session in the preliminary stage of the civil procedure, which has been held in the High Court of England and Wales, based in London, since Monday the 27th.
The prince coincided in room 76 of the building with David Furnish, Elton John’s husband, and Doreen Lawrence, with whom he shares this determined fight against the Daily Mail newspaper and the Sunday Mail on Sunday. The singer himself, the model Elizabeth Hurley, the actress Sadie Frost law and the former deputy Simon Hughes, who complete the group of complainants, were absent from the closing of the trial.
The unexpected arrival of Enrique in London, who traveled from the United States over the weekend, and the presence of Elton John in court raised interest in a trial, of a technical nature at this stage, in which none of the victims was called to declare. On the other hand, the written testimony of Baroness Lawrence, which the lawyer culled in his final intervention, was a sad reminder that the so-called “dark arts” of the tabloids in their hunt for exclusive news do not only target artists and celebrities.
Lawrence discovered in early 2022 that he was targeted by detectives hired by the Mail during the years in which the newspaper itself was campaigning against the racist youths who murdered his son, Stephen, in 1993, according to his affidavit. . “I thought he was a close ally and even a friend,” he writes of a tabloid journalist whose identity has been withheld at the request of the media company.
ANL argued throughout the week that “it is too late” to instruct lawsuits on wiretapping, installation of hidden microphones, theft of invoices and medical reports that allegedly fed the contents of its publications between 1993 and 2011. This line of defense is part of the allegation that his lawyer presented to the court in order to put down the battery of allegations of systematic criminality.
The firm wants to archive the case without giving the group of aggrieved parties the option to prove in court the validity or not of the evidence they have amassed against the Mail brand. Judge Mathew Nicklin promised to issue a sentence as soon as possible, although his decision could take months more than weeks to go public.