Lawyers for Prince Harry and six other household names have said they should receive a "substantial award of damages" from the High Court in their case against the publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday over claims of unlawful information-gathering.
The Duke of Sussex, Sir Elton John and Baroness Doreen Lawrence are part of a group suing Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) over allegations that include the use of private investigators to commit unlawful acts, such as blagging.
The publisher has strongly denied the claims, saying it had a "culture of professionalism and discipline".
Lawyers for the group started their closing arguments in the trial on March 27.
The Duke of Sussex, Sir Elton John and Baroness Doreen Lawrence are part of a group suing Associated Newspapers Limited
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David Sherborne, who is representing the group, said in his written submission that each of the claimants had "made good [of] his or her claim".
He continued: "The unlawful acts were carried out by a range of characters: professional private investigators, some individuals who acted also as freelance journalists, and the defendant's journalists themselves.
"The acts also range across types of activity, and along a spectrum of seriousness. All are unlawful, and all offend the private lives of those at whom they are targeted.
"The defendant has never accepted responsibility for a single such act. This striking position has been maintained throughout the trial."
The Duke of Sussex's legal trial is set to conclude next week
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The barrister also told the court that evidence from ANL's witnesses was in "a great many cases not relevant, or simply entirely ineffectual because they claimed not to remember anything material".
He argued around 70 per cent of claims came down to work by four journalists, and there was "incontrovertible evidence that each of them habitually commissioned UIG (unlawful information gathering)".
Referencing the Duke of Sussex, he said Harry laid out his "shock and horror" that ANL used its "journalistic power and privilege to commit unlawful acts against him without any legitimate justification and in order to compete with other tabloid newspapers for profit".
Concluding, Mr Sherborne said: "The court is invited to make a substantial award of damages, including aggravated damages, in respect of each of the claimants for misuse of their private information, and, in the case of Baroness Lawrence, for breach of confidence."
Referencing the Duke of Sussex, he said Harry laid out his 'shock and horror'
| GETTYIn written submissions for ANL, Antony White KC stated the claim was initiated by the press reform campaign group Hacked Off as a "political campaign" and the publisher responded with a "robust and comprehensive" defence.
He told told the court the evidence of private investigator Gavin Burrows means "the most serious of the claimants' allegations, and the basis upon which Ms Hurley, Sir Elton John and Mr Furnish, the Duke of Sussex and Baroness Lawrence had been persuaded by the claimants' legal representatives and research team to join the group claim, have effectively fallen away".
Mr White added what was left of the claimants' case "was addressed and met by an impressive queue of diverse witnesses" who came out of retirement in some cases to "defend their legitimately sourced articles".
Mr White said: "These witnesses, together with the substantial number who were not cross-examined by the claimants, completely dispelled any suggestion of habitual and widespread unlawful information gathering by Associated targeting the claimants."
The trial before Mr Justice Nicklin is due to conclude on Tuesday, with a judgment in writing expected at a later date
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Referencing allegations made by Harry, the barrister said the duke was "inclined to see unlawful evidence gathering, in particular voicemail interception, everywhere".
He stated the claims were "without any foundation" and that "the evidence at trial has shown that the information in the articles was sourced conventionally from a mix of contacts of the journalists responsible".
Mr White concluded that the claims "fail on the merits" and were also filed too late.
The trial before Mr Justice Nicklin is due to conclude on Tuesday, with a judgment in writing expected at a later date.
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