Four British editors named in Prince Harry’s lawsuit against Daily Mail over phone hijacking

Four current British newspaper editors and a range of other senior press figures have been named in a privacy lawsuit brought by Prince Harry and other public figures against the publisher of the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday.

Harry, the younger son of King Charles, is one of seven plaintiffs suing Associated Newspapers over allegations of voicemail tapping – known as phone hacking – and other serious privacy violations dating back 30 years.

He and the other plaintiffs, including singer Elton John and actors Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost, have named about 70 current and former employees of Associated Newspapers whom they accuse of involvement in unlawful information gathering in the past.

Victoria Newton and Tony Gallagher, now editors of Rupert Murdoch’s Sun and Times respectively, are mentioned, as are the editor of the Sunday Times, Ben Taylor, and the Mail on Sunday, David Dillon.

Restrictions on identifying them were lifted when Associated Newspapers submitted its written defense to London’s High Court, which was made public on Wednesday.

The publisher denies unlawful information gathering, including phone hacking, eavesdropping, eavesdropping and burglary, or committing any unlawful act.

In her defense, she called the allegations “an insult to … hard-working professional journalists” whose reputation and integrity have been “wrongfully abused.”

“The stories in question, many of which were published 20 or more years ago and for which no complaints were filed at the time, were the result of responsible journalism based on legitimate sources,” an Associated spokesperson said.

News UK, a subsidiary of Murdoch’s News Corp, declined to comment.

PHONE HACKING CASES INVOLVE VARIOUS MEDIA GROUPS

Newton, the showbiz editor of the Daily Mail in the early 2000s, is also named in separate, long-running lawsuits against News Group Newspapers (NGN), the publisher of the Sun, and the now bankrupt News of the World, which was liquidated in 2011 Closed.

The phone hijacking scandal came to light more than a decade ago and led to a public inquiry into press ethics and several criminal trials.

Harry has filed several lawsuits against British media organizations as part of his “mission” to purge directors and editors he accuses of spreading lies and intruding into people’s lives.

The prince blames the British media for the death of his mother Princess Diana in a car crash in 1997, and has accused British newspapers of hostile and racist attacks on his American wife Meghan, which were cited as a factor in their decision to to quit royal duties and move to California in March 2020.

In February, Harry accepted significant damages to settle his case against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) – publisher of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People – after becoming Britain’s first high-profile royal in 130 years.

He could appear as a witness again next year when his lawsuit against NGN goes to trial.