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The couple are heartbroken by the article 'about an event they had saved so carefully to keep it precious' Sir Elton John attended the preliminary hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice on Monday. Sir Elton John and David Furnish had not seen a copy of their first child's birth certificate before the publisher of the Daily Mail obtained it "illegally" and placed it under a "derogatory" headline, the High Court said.
The singer and her filmmaker husband were described as 'outraged' and 'mortified' in court documents that alleged their home privacy had been 'ruthlessly invaded', with their landline phone allegedly tapped and staff 'attacked', to " steal and exploit" information. to feed stories about them.
The couple's allegations are part of a series of similar complaints brought against Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL) by a group that includes Prince Harry, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, actors Sadie Frost and Elizabeth Hurley and former Liberal Democrat MP Sir Simon Hughes. .
Elton John arrives at the High Court in London
All but two of the band members, Hurley and Sir Simon, were pictured at London's Royal Courts of Justice on Monday for the first of a four-day preliminary hearing into the case launched in October, which the publisher is seeking to throw out. . .
Among the claims brought forward by lawyer David Sherborne are allegations that the LNA monitored Baroness Lawrence's bank accounts and landline phone while she was campaigning for justice for the racially motivated murder of her son, Stephen, in 1993 and allegedly made "corrupt payments" to serving police officers. to obtain confidential information about your case.
The publisher also allegedly hired a private investigator who allegedly bugged the car of Hurley's former partner, Hugh Grant, to obtain illegal information about her finances, travel plans, and medical exams during her pregnancy. A private detective has also reportedly been paid to "illegally" find the address of a man believed to be Sir Simon's lover, as part of a search for photos of them together.
Sherborne, whose clients accuse ANL of "even ordering the escape and trespassing on private property", said the alleged acts at the trial centers were committed "in secret" over a period from 1993 to 2011.
The ANL says it strongly denies that illegal newsgathering took place in its newspapers and that legal action against it was brought too late.
Prince Harry made an unexpected appearance at the Royal Courts of Justice on Monday.
Documents filed on behalf of Sir Elton and Furnish, made available to the media on Monday, claim that the landline phone at their Windsor home had been "tapped by private investigators acting on instructions from Associated".
"The plaintiffs are outraged that Associated participated in these illegal and unfair acts to publish illegal articles about them," Sherborne said.
“It also mortifies them to consider that all their conversations, some very personal, were recorded, recorded, packaged and consumed as a commercial product for journalists and strangers, published or not.
"The pain remains the same, knowing that their lives have been treated like a commodity and their precious and priceless moments of intimacy degraded in this way."
Baroness Lawrence leaves the Royal Courts of Justice
Sherborne alleged that Sir Elton's personal assistant and the couple's gardener were also attacked.
"In particular, they view their private homes as a sacred space," he said. "Knowing now that this has been ruthlessly invaded, their home so violated, and their family and loved ones attacked, all for illegal acts designed to steal and exploit their information, is inexcusable for them."
The lawyer also said that Sir Elton and Furnish were "appalled" by allegedly illegal items obtained by accessing medical information.
"Even worse, Associated illegally obtained their first child's birth certificate, before they themselves had seen a copy," he added. "They were heartbroken by Associated's derogatory headline attached, clearly calculated to make a profit and create public sensation about an event they had so carefully guarded to maintain its value."
Sherborne continued: "They will probably never know the true extent of the intrusion to which they have been subjected, and certainly the consequences of it."
“They are really shocked that the people involved in what happened are still in high positions within the associated newspapers, and they believe that these people must now be held accountable for what they have done under these proceedings.”
ANL lawyers say the cases are 'stale' and should be dismissed without trial, it is up to the claimants to show they did not know before, or could not have found out before, that they could have brought a claim against ANL.
Additional reporting by AP
Reuters
Pennsylvania
PA wire
Aaron Chown/PA Wire
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