Prince Harry - Royal must explain "destroyed" messages
Already for several years, Prince Harry (39) has been waging a bitter legal battle against British tabloid media, accusing them of intercepting phone conversations and other surveillance activities. In the ongoing lawsuit against the media conglomerate News Group Newspapers (NGN), which publishes among other things the tabloid "The Sun," Harry was called to give testimony on Thursday (27. June).
As reported by the "Daily Mail" and the BBC, NGN requested in a preliminary hearing that Judge Timothy Fancourt instruct Prince Harry and his legal team to present a series of documents that may contain relevant evidence for the case. Among other things, these should include messages exchanged over the Signal messaging service between Prince Harry and J.R. Moehringer (59), his ghostwriter for the autobiography "Spare" (English title "Spare").
"Shocking" destruction of potential evidence
According to NGN's legal counsel, these messages were deleted over Signal before the publication of the autobiography in 2023. In a statement, the counsel expressed outrage to the "Daily Mail" about alleged concealment maneuvers by the royal side. It was "shocking and extraordinary," he said, that the plaintiff had "deliberately destroyed" this evidence. Furthermore, it needed to be explained why several Hotmail accounts, which Prince Harry had used in the past, were no longer accessible.
Judge orders comprehensive investigation into royal text messages
Judge Fancourt agreed with NGN's request and confirmed that the messaging exchange between the Prince and his ghostwriter could be relevant to the case. "I have seen concerning evidence," Fancourt said, "that a large number of potentially relevant documents and confidential messages between the Duke and the ghostwriter of 'Spare' were at some point between 2021 and 2023 destroyed."
However, it was unclear what exactly had happened to the alleged missing messages, so the matter needed to be clarified by the defendant himself. In addition, Judge Fancourt ordered a comprehensive search of Prince Harry's laptop and his SMS and WhatsApp messages to shed light on his communication between 2005 and 2023.
- The ongoing legal proceedings against News Group Newspapers, publishers of The Sun, involve Prince Harry being asked to provide relevant documents, such as messages with his ghostwriter J.R. Moehringer, in the ongoing lawsuit.
- The Daily Mail and BBC reported that Judge Timothy Fancourt agreed with NGN's request to investigate Prince Harry's deleted messages on Signal and his inaccessible Hotmail accounts.
- Prince Harry's legal team faces criticism from NGN's legal counsel, who expressed outrage over the alleged destruction of potential evidence, including messages exchanged on Signal before the publication of Prince Harry's autobiography.
- The BBC and Daily Mail also reported that the Court of Law ordered a comprehensive investigation into Prince Harry's communication records, including his laptop and SMS and WhatsApp messages, to clarify the disappearance of allegedly relevant documents and messages.
