The Daily Mail – which just last month campaigned for Rishi Sunak to pull out of the ECHR – has invoked the Human Rights Act to stop other media outlets naming its journalists in a phone hacking court case.
Prince Harry is among a group of prominent individuals who are bringing cases alleging widespread illegal behaviour by reporters at Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) – the Mail’s parent company.
Lawyers working for the paper said publishing the names would breach the journalists’ right to a fair trial under the Human Rights Act.
This is despite the Mail long using its editorial pages to campaign against the European-derived legislation.
Barrister David Sherborne, representing Harry and other claimants at the high court, noted it was surprising to see a newspaper that has campaigned for press freedom object to the publication of the names: “They say different rules apply to their journalists suspected of wrongdoing, as opposed to others suspected of wrongdoing.”
Others, including LBC presenter James O’Brien, have made similar comments on social media.
The Duke of Sussex has said the alleged “unlawful actions” of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday led him to “cut off” friends as everyone came under suspicion for leaking stories to the newspapers.
Harry has cited 14 newspaper articles featuring information known only to his trusted circle he claims were the product of unlawful information gathering by the publications.
Harry’s former girlfriend Chelsy Davy and their relationship was the subject of eight of the stories featured in the two newspapers published by ANL.
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