What we’ve heard so farpublished at 11:15 GMT
11:15 GMT
Tom Symonds
Reporting from the High Court
A barrister for Prince Harry and six other well known people has accused the publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday of falsely denying its journalists used unlawful techniques to source stories.
In opening submissions at the High Court, David Sherborne said that Associated Newspapers Limited had kept up a “hear no evil see no evil speak no evil defence”, claiming at the Leveson public inquiry in 2012 that there had been no unlawful activity at all.
He said his clients would prove that there was “clear, systematic and sustained use of unlawful information gathering at both the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday” during a 20 year period.
He said any success on the part of Prince Harry and the other six claimants in this case would be a “catastrophe” for the publisher because of its blanket denials
He said ANL “knew they had skeletons in their closet” because the company investigated the use phone hacking between 2003 and 2005, finding evidence in stories the technique had been used.
This followed a complaint by Baroness Luciana Berger to the police following stories relating to a relationship between her and Euan Blair, Tony Blair’s son.
The court heard ANL has revealed in disclosure to this trial that a journalist, Lee Harpin, described by Sherborne as the “dauphin of phone hacking”, had sourced 22 stories for Katie Nicholl, then a royal correspondent at the Daily Mail.
The case will continue until March – stick with us as we bring you more updates from the first day in court.