Here’s a breakdown of the key information from the provided text:
The Case:
* Prince Harry, along with Elizabeth Hurley, Sadie Frost, and Simon Hughes, are suing Associated Newspapers (publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday).
* They allege unlawful information gathering practices.
Alleged Unlawful Acts:
* Illegally intercepting voicemail messages.
* Listening to live landline calls.
* Obtaining private information (itemized phone bills, medical records) through deception (“blagging”).
Timeframe:
* The alleged activities took place between 1993 and 2011, and possibly continued until 2018 or later.
Claims by the Claimants’ Lawyer (David Sherborne):
* The Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday had “skeletons in their closet” regarding unlawful information gathering.
* There was a “clear, systematic and sustained use” of these practices across all editorial desks for two decades.
* Journalists and senior executives knew about and approved the acquisition and use of unlawfully obtained information.
* Associated Newspapers’ previous denials of wrongdoing (including during the Leveson inquiry) were “not true.”
* Associated Newspapers is employing a “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil defense.”
Associated newspapers’ response:
* Denies any wrongdoing.
* Previously described the claims as “lurid” and “preposterous.”
In essence, this is a high-profile legal battle centered on accusations of widespread and deliberate unlawful information gathering by a major newspaper group.
