Prince Harry, Elton John, Elizabeth Hurley sue media company for illicit spying

Los Angeles, Oct. 7 (IANS): The Duke of Sussex, Prince Harry has filed another lawsuit against media company Associated Newspapers, the publisher of British tabloids the Daily Mail and the Mail, recently.

Also suing the media company are musician Elton John and his husband, producer David Furnish, actresses Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost, and campaigner Baroness Doreen Lawrence of Clarendon, reports ‘Variety’.

The group claim they have been “the victims of abhorrent criminal activity and gross breaches of privacy by Associated Newspapers,” according to a press release from law firm Hamlins, which is representing Prince Harry and Frost.

As per ‘Variety’, court records show three separate lawsuits citing “misuse of private information” were filed against Associated Newspapers in London’s High Court by Gunnercooke on behalf of its clients. Prince Harry and Frost’s lawsuits have yet to appear in court records but Hamlins said that legal action has been launched.

Amongst the allegations, the group claims that Associated Newspapers hired private investigators to bug their cars and homes, hired people to listen into their telephone conversations, paid police for inside information, impersonated staff at hospitals and clinics to obtain information and accessed bank accounts and financial transactions “through illicit means and manipulation.”

A spokesperson for Associated Newspapers told ‘Variety’, “We utterly and unambiguously refute these preposterous smears which appear to be nothing more than a pre-planned and orchestrated attempt to drag the Mail titles into the phone hacking scandal concerning articles up to 30 years old. 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.”

The lawsuit will be the third Prince Harry has brought against Associated Newspapers. He has sued twice previously for libel and slander. At least one lawsuit is ongoing, regarding a story about Prince Harry’s bid for private security provided by the Metropolitan Police in the U.K. He won the first stage of the lawsuit in July.

In the same period Harry’s wife Meghan Markle also sued the publisher for copyright infringement and breach of privacy. She won her legal battle last December.