Britain’s Prince Harry and Sir Elton John are part of the group of celebrities who filed a suit against Associated News, the publisher of Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday and the Mail Online, for illegal surveillance and other breaches of privacy.
The other public figures include Sadie Frost, Sir Elton John’s partner David Furnish, mother of Stephen Lawrence(whose son was the victim of a racist killing in 1993), and Elizabeth Hurley.
According to the documents, these individuals became aware of the “compelling and highly distressing evidence that they have been the victims of abhorrent criminal activity and gross breaches of privacy” committed by the Associated News Limited and their papers. These breaches include allegedly bribing police officers for access to sensitive information, placing listening devices into people’s cars, bugging of telephone calls and the impersonation of individuals in order to access private medical records.
Associated News Limited have denied these allegations in a statement saying “We utterly and unambiguously refute these preposterous smears, which appear to be nothing more than a preplanned and orchestrated attempt to drag the Mail titles into the phone-hacking scandal concerning articles up to 30 years old”
Their spokesman also continues saying “These unsubstantiated and highly defamatory claims – based on no credible evidence – appear to be simply a fishing expedition by claimants and their lawyers, some of whom have already pursued cases elsewhere”
This legal action comes on the heels of Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex’s privacy win against the Daily Mail for publishing a letter to her father.
The couple’s tumultuous relationship with the British media has been public information and was in fact cited as one of the reasons behind their abdication of Royal duties.
