Prince Harry ordered to expand searches in lawsuit against Murdoch papers

28/6/2024 19:01

        Prince Harry was ordered on Thursday to carry other wider searches for emails, text messages and other material that might be relevant in his lawsuit against the Rupert Murdoch's UK newspaper arm, amid concern some evidence had been destroyed.
        
        Harry, 39, the younger son of Britain's King Charles, and more than 40 others are suing News Group Newspapers (NGN) over accusations of unlawful activities by journalists and private investigators, for the Sun and the now-defunct News of the World from the mid-1990s to the mid-2010s.
        
        A trial focusing on some of those claims, possibly including Harry's, is due to begin at the High Court in London in January next year.
        
        NGN, which is contesting the claims, has paid out hundreds of millions of pounds to victims of phone-hacking by News of the World and settled more than 1,300 lawsuits, but has always rejected allegations of any wrongdoing by staff at The Sun.
        
        Ahead of the trial, NGN's legal team sought an order to force Harry to disclose any relevant information that he might possess, or that might be held by his former lawyers or the royal household, which would be relevant to what he knew about alleged unlawful behaviour before the end of 2013.