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Politicians and celebrities including Prince Harry are seeking to drag Rupert Murdoch into their court battle against his media empire, claiming he knew of illegal practices at his British tabloid newspapers years before the News of the World was shut down.
Lawyers acting for alleged victims of phone hacking and other unlawful activity upped the ante on Wednesday by seeking approval from the High Court in London to include additional allegations in their civil lawsuits against News Group Newspapers, part of Murdoch’s News Corp.
Actor Hugh Grant and former Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable are among 45 individuals bringing legal claims against NGN, publisher of The Sun and previously the News of the World.
The Sunday tabloid was closed down in 2011 after it was revealed that its journalists had hacked the voicemail of murdered teenager Milly Dowler.
A proposed updated claim by the 45 litigants includes allegations that News Corp targeted MPs and other public figures whom the company saw as a “barrier”, deploying unlawful information-gathering and intrusive surveillance to further its “commercial or political aims”.
The claim said it was “to be inferred” from “his dominant position” at News Corp that Murdoch “was aware of the nature and extent of NGN’s wrongdoing”.
It further alleged that it could be inferred Murdoch knew as early as 2004 about unlawful voicemail interception.
Lawyers acting for the 45 claimants are also seeking to draw in additional NGN journalists and other employees for being involved in an alleged cover-up.
Fresh allegations have been made against current and former News Corp executives, including Rupert Murdoch’s son James and Rebekah Brooks.
NGN is fighting the attempt by the claimants to broaden the lawsuit with additional allegations.
At a hearing on Wednesday, the company’s barrister Anthony Hudson KC said the existing legal claim was “already looking like the first draft of a book” and that “the new version is even worse”.
“A number of very wide-ranging and serious allegations concerning senior executives and political motivations are made, but made entirely in the abstract,” lawyers for NGN said in written arguments.
A spokesperson for NGN said the Crown Prosecution Service concluded in 2015 that no evidence supported charges against the company.
They described the proposed amendments to the legal claim as a “scurrilous and cynical attack” on the integrity of those named in the case.
“The attempt to add the amendments now has nothing to do with seeking compensation for victims of phone hacking or unlawful information-gathering. They are irrelevant to the fair and just determination of claims.”
NGN apologised to victims of voicemail interception by the News of the World in 2011, and has since settled more than 1,000 claims and paid financial damages. It has never admitted to any claims against The Sun.
The 45 claimants have alleged that illegal practices, which included impersonation or deception known as “blagging” to obtain personal information, were “habitual and widespread” at The Sun as well as the News of the World.
The updated proposed claim extends the timeframe of the allegations as far back as 1994, and onwards until at least 2012.
It alleges that the public figures who were targeted by NGN publications included Tom Watson, the former Labour MP, along with other members of a House of Commons select committee inquiring into News Corp activities.
The claim said it could be inferred that “Ms Brooks, James Murdoch and/or Rupert Murdoch” instigated the focus on Watson.
It further alleges that Cable was targeted by NGN on account of his ministerial role in the handling of a bid by News Corp to buy shares in BSkyB, the satellite broadcaster.
Cable was considered “by the Murdoch family” as “being hostile to the bid”, according to the claim.
News Corp was seeking to obtain “information about private and sensitive discussions that may have been being held between Mr Cable and his advisers”, it added.
The judge, Mr Justice Fancourt, is yet to decide whether to allow the additional allegations to proceed as part of the lawsuits brought by the claimants. A trial has been scheduled for next January.
