Prince Harry suffered a legal setback yesterday when a judge intervened to stop some of his witnesses giving ‘commentary’ – rather than relevant evidence – at his trial against the publisher of The Sun.
The newspaper has urged the court to prevent the Duke of Sussex turning the forthcoming court case into a ‘public inquiry’ against the Press.
And yesterday Mr Justice Fancourt ordered Harry’s lawyers to cut down a string of witness statements, including those from former prime minister Gordon Brown, ex-Commons Speaker John Bercow and singer Charlotte Church’s mother Maria.
He said that some of what they had to say was ‘merely commentary or argument’.
Under courtroom rules, witnesses can only give evidence of fact directly relevant to a case.
It is less than two weeks until a blockbuster trial expected to last for eight weeks starts at the High Court between Prince Harry, along with former Labour deputy leader Lord Tom Watson, against News Group Newspapers.
The pair are suing over alleged unlawful information-gathering and invasion of privacy.
A string of high-profile witnesses is lined up to give evidence on their behalf.
Prince Harry (pictured) is suing News Group Newspapers over alleged unlawful information-gathering and invasion of privacy
The Duke of Sussex (pictured in March 2023) will return to Britain in the New Year to give evidence in the eight-week trial
But the judge said in a written ruling that the content of many of their witness statements ‘shows either a lack of proper understanding’ of the court rules ‘or indifference’ to them.
He added: ‘It appears to me that some of the witnesses… wished to express their strong opinions about the way that they were treated by the [newspaper group], or pass comment’.
He said Harry’s lawyers should have excluded such elements but had ‘failed to do so’.
Mr Justice Fancourt ordered that the statements of ten witnesses be cut down.
In addition to those of Mr Brown and Mr Bercow, statements from former Liberal Democrat ministers Sir Vince Cable and Chris Huhne must also be trimmed.
The judge said Harry’s legal team had already agreed that some of what the witnesses said ‘will not be relied upon’ and other parts were ‘plainly not evidence’ that could be given at trial ‘and/or is merely commentary or argument’.
Turning to two other potential witnesses, including Charlotte Church’s mother, the judge said ‘none, or virtually none’ of their evidence was ‘relevant to the issues that the court has to determine, and/or is merely commentary or argument’.
In his ruling, the judge awarded the newspaper half of its costs relating to the argument over witness statements, saying it had been partly successful but also ‘overly optimistic’ in other respects in seeking to pare down the evidence.
Lord Watson (pictured in April 2019) and Harry are the only two left pursuing the case against The Sun’s publisher
Harry and his sole remaining co-claimant Tom Watson, (pictured) the former Labour deputy leader, allege journalists from The Sun and the defunct News of the World unlawfully obtained their private information
Prince Harry is due to fly to the UK to face up to four days in the witness box next month, being cross-examined by the newspaper group’s barrister.
It will be the duke’s second courtroom encounter, after he gave evidence in 2023 before the same judge as he sued Mirror Group Newspapers alleging phone hacking.
After winning that case, Harry declared himself a ‘dragon slayer’ and vowed to continue his crusade against the Press.
In the new trial, the duke will be quizzed over his claims that News Group Newspapers publications used unlawful techniques to find out information about him.
He alleges breaches of his privacy over at least 30 articles written about him, including the day he found out he had been accepted to Eton in 1998.
Some 39 other claimants, including Hugh Grant, who had joined Harry in the current tranche of the managed group action have settled out of court, with only the duke and Lord Watson still pursuing the case.
At a pre-trial hearing last month, Anthony Hudson KC, the newspaper group’s barrister, accused Prince Harry’s side of ‘an attempt to turn January’s trial into some form of public inquiry’.
He referred to recent remarks made by the Duke of Sussex at an event in New York about refusing to settle the case and ‘seeing it through’, and said: ‘It shows what’s really going on here… what it’s clearly about is almost by definition a public inquiry.’
David Sherborne, representing the duke and Lord Watson, responded by telling the judge: ‘Saying this is overblown – it’s a public inquiry, and so on – does not help your lordship.’
News Group Newspapers denies wrongdoing and the case is due to start on January 20.
