Prince Harry has been accused of a “scattergun approach” in his bitter court battle.
The Duke of Sussex has added several claims to his court case against The Sun that date back to his early childhood.
During a three-day hearing that began on Wednesday, Harry’s legal team asked a High Court judge to extend the dates of his hacking claim against News Group Newspapers (NGN) to include allegations dating between 1994 and 2016.
By extending the parameters of his claims the duke wants the court to consider additional journalists and more articles than his current claims.
Prince Harry has expanded the scope of his claims
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At the moment, the current pleading starts in 1996 and ends in 2011.
Barrister Anthony Hudson KC said in a written outline of NGN’s defence that Harry was using a “scattergun approach.”
He stated: “This scattergun approach does not meet the requirements of … tests in relation to the pleading of similar fact evidence. Nor does it conform to the requirement that a trial be restricted to the issues necessary for and proportionate to the fair determination of the dispute.”
He also said it was “wholly inappropriate” of Harry to make new claims “on the speculative basis that, among the myriad of non-specific allegations made against undefined journalists across two newspapers throughout the period of 1996 and 2011, some isolated examples might ultimately prove to be relevant to some unspecified unlawful information gathering allegations.”
Prince Harry has multiple court cases with the British tabloidsReutersThe new claims are said to include wrongdoings by NGN such as the interception of voicemail messages left on landlines and mobiles, as well as listening into live mobile phone conversations.
However, lawyers for NGN are arguing that the documents submitted to the court by the duke make unspecified allegations dating back to when Harry was 10 years old and should be barred by the statute of limitations.
This is because the prince can not argue that he only just found these documents.
David Sherborne, the barrister who previously represented Princess Diana, spoke for Harry saying: “The Duke of Sussex was 10, but there was information relating to his welfare, relationships and his mother, Princess Diana, and her state of mind … and right up to 2016. That’s the relevant period of dispute.”
Rupert Murdoch was forced to shut down News of the World in 2012ReutersHe also said that in 2016 “the defendant instructed one of its regular private investigators in the US, Danno Hanks.
“What we say he did was obtain private information in the form of a report about the Duke of Sussex’s new girlfriend, Meghan Markle, in order to obtain further information about their relation for the purposes of an article in The Sun.”
Hudson rebutted this claim saying that the allegation from 2016 could not be considered as it was a New York-based journalist who allegedly hired a private detector to carry out work in the US.
Therefore, the wrongdoing cannot be examined by a British court as it occurred in the United States.
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Prince Harry arriving at court in London for various cases against the British pressPAPrince Harry is amongst 40 others who are suing NGN over accusations of unlawful invasion of privacy by media outlets the Sun and the no-longer-existent News of the World.
Other claimants include film director Guy Ritchie and actor Hugh Grant.
Prince Harry’s lawyers are also seeing Rupert Murdoch dragged into the court case.
Among the amendments claimants are seeking to include are references to Murdoch, 93, about senior figures' knowledge and concealment of unlawful activities, and evidence relating to Rebekah Brooks, the chief executive of News UK, News Corp's British newspaper arm.