Prince Harry lawyers seek to drag Rupert Murdoch into UK court case

LONDON (Reuters) – Lawyers for Britain’s Prince Harry and other claimants sought on Wednesday to amend their London lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch’s British mass-circulation papers to include the magnate personally in allegations of a cover-up of wrongdoing.

Harry and more than 40 others are suing News Group Newspapers (NGN) over accusations of unlawful invasions of privacy by its tabloids, the Sun and the now-defunct News of the World, from the mid-1990s until 2016.

The case is due to go to a trial, which could last eight weeks and is scheduled to begin in January.

In a three-day hearing starting on Wednesday, lawyers for the claimants asked Judge Timothy Fancourt for permission to change details of their generic case against NGN to include what they argue would be further evidence of a cover-up by senior executives at the newspaper group.

Among the amendments they are seeking to include are references to Murdoch, 93, himself in relation to 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.

NGN’s lawyers said the attempt to change the particulars of the case was unnecessary, disproportionate and irrelevant, introducing 200 new journalists, executives and private investigators, along with extremely serious allegations.

“It has become increasingly clear that at least some members of the claimant group appear to be using this document as a vehicle for wider campaigning interests against the tabloid press,” Anthony Hudson, NGN’s lawyer, told the court.

Hudson suggested that the proposed amendments were designed by some of the claimants – which also include British actor and press campaigner Hugh Grant – to turn the litigation into “some type of substitute for a public inquiry”.

In 2012, NGN apologised for widespread phone-hacking by journalists at the News of the World (NoW), which the Australian-born Murdoch had been forced to shut down amid a backlash.

It has settled more than 1,300 claims but the group has always rejected allegations of any wrongdoing by staff at the Sun. Brooks, a former Sun editor, was found not guilty of hacking and other crimes following an eight-month trial in 2014.

David Sherborne, the lawyer for Harry and the other claimants, told the court both Murdoch and Brooks knew NGN’s original statement that just “one rogue reporter” was involved in unlawful information-gathering was false.

Murdoch knew about the allegations and that the company’s denial was untrue, Sherborne added, saying it would have to have been approved by News Corp’s board.

In written submissions, the claimants’ lawyers said they wanted to include evidence from a former IT engineer that Brooks’ computer hard drive was hidden away and possibly deliberately destroyed in 2011 to hide her knowledge of wrongdoing.

NGN’s lawyers said the amended details were an attempt “to re-investigate, reopen, re-litigate or second guess” previous court decisions or findings from a 2012 public inquiry.

“As observed above in relation to (Brooks), these new allegations against those previously named in the (case) are also frequently serious and wide-ranging, requiring NGN to enter into the re-running of criminal trials or an inquiry into an inquiry,” their written submission said.

(Reporting by Michael Holden)