The pretrial hearing for Prince Harry’s lawsuit against the publisher of the Daily Mail in the UK got off to a dramatic start on January 15, with a publication associated with the royal’s team accused of intimidation.
Key witness Gavin Burrows alleged that a blatant attempt to intimidate him was made by a publication associated with the Duke of Sussex’s legal team on the eve of the trial getting underway.
The private investigator’s lawyer has subsequently asked that he be allowed to give evidence remotely and from a concealed location amid fears for his safety.
Claims of intimidation amid hacking pretrial
According to the Daily Telegraph, Gavin was contacted by Byline Times – a publication he believed was allied with the pressure group Hacked Off, which includes members who may have worked with Harry’s lawyers’ research team.
He cited the contact as a “blatant attempt to intimidate him at the start of the trial”.
Elsewhere during the pretrial hearing, it was revealed that some of Harry’s lawyers hay be accused by the Daily Mail of dishonesty, fraud and conspiracy.
David Sherborne told the court of the outlet’s plans to make “exceptionally serious” allegations of “fraud, dishonesty and professional misconduct” against his team.
Judge Nicklin subsequently ruled that Associated Newspapers must amend its written submissions in part.
What is the hacking trial about?
Prince Harry is among seven high profile plaintiffs suing Associated Newspapers Limited for illegal information-gathering practices between 1993 and 2011.
Musician Elton John and his husband David Furnish, actresses Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost, Baroness Doreen Lawrence and former British lawmaker Simon Hughes round out the claimants.
They allege that journalists working for Associated Newspapers hired private investigators to place secret listening devices inside their homes and cars.
These were used to hack into voicemail messages and tap into landline calls to obtain confidential information.
This includes medical records and flight details, among other things.
Police were also allegedly paid off for inside information.
Associated Newspapers continues to deny any wrongdoing.
While Harry, 41, wasn’t at the pretrial, he is expected to appear in court on January 22.
