Today, The High Court begins an eight-week trial in the Mobile Telephone Voicemail Interception Litigation (MTVIL) before Mr Justice Fancourt. Central to these proceedings are allegations of widespread unlawful information-gathering practices at The News of the World and The Sun, including voicemail interception, phone tapping, blagging and extensive use of private investigators.
The Claimants whose cases will be determined in part at this trial are the Duke of Sussex – a senior member of the Royal Family – and Lord Tom Watson, formerly a Member of Parliament and now a member of the House of Lords. Both allege that they and their associates were repeatedly and intrusively targeted over a number of years, resulting in serious infringements of privacy. The Claimants’ case also includes allegations of deliberate destruction of emails and other records to hide incriminating evidence – a claim NGN denies.
NGN denies liability and raises limitation defences in both claims. NGN further denies or non-admits the wider wrongdoing alleged outside limited admissions concerning voicemail interception at The News of the World.
This is the first trial in MTVIL, with all previous claims having settled prior to trial.
5RB’s David Sherborne, Julian Santos and Ben Hamer act for the Claimant group, including the Duke of Sussex and Lord Watson.