By Michael Holden and Sam Tobin
LONDON, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Prince Harry, Elton John and five other public figures were victims of widespread phone hacking and other unlawful acts by Britain's powerful Daily Mail with the complicity of executives and senior journalists, their lawyer told a court on Monday.
The British royal and other claimants accuse the Mail's publisher Associated Newspapers of unlawful behaviour violating their privacy from 1993 until 2011 and beyond in one of the most high-profile civil cases in the UK for years.
Harry, 41, who arrived smiling and waving at court, said in a witness submission that it was "disturbing to feel that my every move, thought or feeling was being tracked and monitored just for the Mail to make money out of it."
Associated calls the allegations "preposterous smears" and part of a coordinated conspiracy by a wealthy group driven by personal animosity towards the media.HARRY'S MISSION AGAINST PRESS
Over nine weeks, the legal team for Harry, singer John and the other claimants - John's husband David Furnish, actors Liz Hurley and Sadie Frost, anti-racism campaigner Doreen Lawrence and former lawmaker Simon Hughes - will argue private investigators instructed by the Mail unlawfully obtained material about them.
Their lawyer David Sherborne said practices included hacking voicemail messages, bugging landlines and obtaining private information by deception, known as "blagging".
"There was clear, systematic and sustained use of unlawful information gathering at both the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday," Sherborne said at the start of the trial at London's High Court.
Harry, who has long blamed the press for the death of his mother in a Paris car crash in 1997 as her vehicle sped away from paparazzi, listened in court, sitting behind his lawyers with Hurley, Frost and Hughes.
Among those accused of involvement in wrongdoing were managing editors and senior journalists including the current editors of the Mail on Sunday and Sun newspapers.
Examples included finding out precise travel plans of Harry's former girlfriend Chelsy Davy, and a report about "private and intimate conversations" between Harry and his elder brother Prince William about a statement regarding images of their dead mother, the claimants' written submissions said.
In his witness statement, quoted in the submissions, Harry, whose case is based on 14 published newspaper stories, says the intrusion had been "terrifying" for loved ones, and created a "massive strain" on personal relationships.
HARRY TO GIVE EVIDENCE
Associated's titles had not previously been embroiled in the phone hacking scandal hanging over the British press for two decades until the case was filed in 2022. It denies wrongdoing and says the lawsuits should have been brought sooner.
It says evidence from former private detectives is untrustworthy. Some have been convicted of crimes and Associated says the claimants' legal team has paid for some testimonies.
"The allegation that these practices were 'habitual and widespread' at Associated's titles was simply untrue," the publisher said in its written submission.
Judge Matthew Nicklin's conclusions will not just put reputations on the line, but also determine legal costs running to tens of millions of dollars.
For Harry, it is the final instalment of his legal war on the British tabloids, having said it was his mission to clear up the press and hold those in senior positions to account.
He has already successfully sued Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) for damages while he won an apology and admission of some wrongdoing by Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper arm which settled ahead of a trial a year ago.
The prince is due to give evidence on Thursday, having become the first British royal to appear in a witness box in 130 years in 2023 during the MGN trial.
(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by David Holmes and Andrew Cawthorne)
