Prince Harry’s lawsuit accusing the publisher of The Sun tabloid of unlawfully snooping on him can go to trial, but not on allegations of phone hacking, a High Court judge ruled Thursday.
Prince Harry’s lawsuit accusing the publisher of The Sun tabloid of unlawfully snooping on him can go to trial, but not on allegations of phone hacking, a High Court judge ruled Thursday.
The case also cannot deal with a claim that newspaper executives made a secret settlement pact with the royal family, the judge ruled.
The Duke of Sussex alleged the publisher of The Sun and the now-defunct News Of The World hacked his phone, employed investigators and used deception to unlawfully gather information on him dating back two decades.
News Group Newspapers (NGN), which is owned by Rupert Murdoch, argued that the suit should be thrown out because the claims were brought after the six-year limitation to do so expired.
Justice Timothy Fancourt said Harry was well enough aware of a phone hacking scandal that roiled Britain more than a decade ago that he could have brought his own case sooner. But the younger son of King Charles III can proceed on allegations about other unlawful information gathering (UIG), such as hiring private eyes to dig up dirt on him, the judge ruled.
“There is no evidence currently before me that the duke knew before the (deadline to file a suit) that NGN had done anything other than hack his mobile phone at the News of the World,” Fancourt wrote.
