The Daily Mail has been dealt a “significant blow” after it was ruled Prince Harry, Sir Elton John and Baroness Doreen Lawrence can continue their unlawful information-gathering claims against the publisher, Hugh Grant has said.
The trio are among a group of high-profile individuals – including David Furnish, Sadie Frost, Liz Hurley and Sir Simon Hughes – who have accused the publisher of allegedly carrying out or commissioning unlawful activities such as hiring private investigators to place listening devices inside cars, “blagging” private records and accessing and recording private phone conversations.
At a hearing in March, ANL, which firmly denies the allegations, asked a judge to rule in its favour without a trial, arguing the legal challenges against it were brought “far too late”.
In a ruling on Friday, Mr Justice Nicklin said ANL had “not been able to deliver a ‘knockout blow’ to the claims of any of these claimants”.
Commenting on the ruling, Hacked Off Board director Hugh Grant said: “This ruling is a significant blow to the Daily Mail and great news for anyone who wants the truth about allegations of illegal press practices to come out. The timing is awkward for the Government, which caved in to the Daily Mail’s lobbying earlier this week on media policy and announced plans to undermine the Leveson system of regulation by repealing one of its vital components, “section 40”.
“The Daily Mail’s argument, that the claimants should have disbelieved the newspaper’s aggressive protestations of innocence and brought claims sooner, was absurd and doomed to fail.
“When I reported my suspicions that the Daily Mail had carried out illegal activities to the Leveson Inquiry in 2012, the editor Paul Dacre attacked my sworn evidence as “mendacious smears”. I am pleased that a judge will now decide whether similar allegations made by Prince Harry, Baroness Lawrence, Sir Elton John and others are also mendacious smears or whether the mendacity lies with the other side.
“The Government risks humiliation if it continues to outsource its media policy to the Daily Mail, a newspaper which now faces lengthy court battles over allegations of illegal spying – not just hacking phones but bugging cars and listening in to private conversations.”
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