Murdoch must have known of phone hacking, court hears

Lawyers for Prince Harry told a hearing his damages claim next year will seek to link News Group Newspapers (NGN) executives to knowledge of hacking and other unlawful activity. News of the World tabloid was closed down in 2011 over hacking claims and its former editor Andy Coulson was later jailed. Prince Harry’s claim of unlawful intrusion by private investigators working for newspapers is likely to continue to trial next January. A judge previously ruled the duke ran out of time to sue specifically for alleged interception of his mobile phone voicemails.

Prince Harry#39;s lawyers said their investigations - and court disclosures from NGN itself - meant they should be allowed to put more allegations. Lawyers for Prince Harry claim a trail of evidence linked individual incidents of hacking to top NGN figures. In one incident, it is claimed the final editor of the News of the World confirmed to police in a witness statement that both his boss, Rebekah Brooks, and owner Mr Murdoch had known about hacking by early 2011. Murdoch later told the Leveson public inquiry he had been the victim of a cover-up and the truth had been hidden from him.

David Sherborne, for Prince Harry, told the court that part of the duke#39;s case would be detailed allegations of the disappearance of a computer hard drive belonging to Rebekah Brooks. There is no certainty the claims made about Mr Murdoch or other top figures at NGN will be examined at trial. 34;They appear to be designed to precipitate a politically fuelled quasi-public inquiry, and not to assist the court with its actual function of determining - in individual claims - whether there has been misuse of private information and, if so, how much compensation should be paid. Some of these allegations date back to events now 30 years old and relate to allegations which are irrelevant to the matters which are now in issue.

Many of these have been investigated in depth on previous occasions. These allegations have nothing to do with seeking compensation for victims of phone hacking or unlawful information gathering.