‘Proper search’ of documents ordered in High Court case against Mail publisher

Documents gathered by a research team investigating allegations of unlawful information gathering against the publisher of the Daily Mail from a group that includes the Duke of Sussex must be “properly searched”, a High Court judge has ruled.

Harry and six other high-profile individuals, including Sir Elton John, his husband David Furnish and Liz Hurley, are bringing legal action against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL).

The group alleges that the publisher carried out or commissioned unlawful activities such as hiring private investigators to place listening devices inside cars, “blagging” private records and accessing private phone conversations.

Actress Sadie Frost, campaigner Baroness Doreen Lawrence and politician Sir Simon Hughes are also in the group.

ANL firmly denies the allegations and is defending the legal action, previously describing the claims as “lurid” and “simply preposterous”.

At a preliminary hearing last month, Antony White KC, for ANL, said it was “highly likely” that a research team working with the group of seven had relevant documents about when some of those individuals knew they might have a claim.

He alleged that the team was using “camouflage” by publishing articles on the website Byline so that Sir Simon could claim he became aware of certain information as a result of the publication.

David Sherborne, for the seven individuals, said the allegation was “simply untrue” and rejected a claim that lawyers for the group had been “cherry picking” documents.

He described an order for there to be a “proper” search for documents relating to the case as a “nuclear option” that was unnecessary.

But Mr Justice Nicklin ruled that the group of seven does have legal control over the research team’s documents.

In a judgment published on Monday, he said: “My conclusion is that the documents held by members of the research team, including documents that came into their possession prior to the engagement agreement, are within the control of the claimants for the purposes of standard disclosure, those documents must be properly searched and such documents that fall within the terms of standard disclosure must be disclosed.”

Mr Justice Nicklin also said that he is “satisfied” that the agreement between the group and the research team allows “unfettered access to the documents that they hold relevant to the litigation against Associated”.

He continued: “The court has received assurances that the research team will co-operate to enable a proper search to be made.

“The sanction of striking out the claimants’ claims would, at this stage, be disproportionate.

“The impending trial date means that this task must be completed quickly, and the court is likely to be unsympathetic to any delay or non-compliance.”

Mr Justice Nicklin made no findings on the allegations of unlawful information gathering.

He handed down judgment ahead of a two-day preliminary hearing for the trial, which is expected in January.