Prince Harry to testify as High Court trial over Daily Mail publisher begins

A trial is set to begin on Monday in London’s High Court in Prince Harry’s case accusing Associated Newspapers, the publisher of The Daily Mail, of phone hacking and other unlawful information gathering. Harry and several other high-profile figures — including Elton John and his husband David Furnish, the actresses Liz Hurley and Sadie Frost, a former British government minister and a racial justice campaigner — accuse the company of carrying out or commissioning unlawful activities to obtain private information for articles published from 1997 to 2015.

Written arguments at a preliminary hearing in May said there had been "clear, systematic and sustained use of unlawful information gathering by private investigators," with "payments spanning decades" and involvement by newspaper executives and numerous journalists. The private investigators are accused of hacking and tapping phones, placing listening devices in cars and "blagging" to obtain phone numbers, personal records and bills.

Associated Newspapers has denied all the accusations. At a preliminary hearing a lawyer for the publisher, Anthony White, said he would argue some claimants' witnesses "are not telling the truth" and would raise questions about their credibility.

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World, Prince Harry, Associated Newspapers, High Court, Phone Hacking, Elton John