Prince Harry is among claimants suing the publishers of the Daily Mail for alleged unlawful information gathering from 1993-2011. Photo / Getty Images
The Daily Mail’s long-serving royal editor has told the High Court it is “both wrong and deeply offensive” to suggest stories about Chelsy Davy and Prince Harry came from phone hacking.
Rebecca English, 55, refuted claims made by the Duke of Sussex that personal details contained in her articles, such as a reference to a gift bracelet, could have been obtained only illegally.
The duke, Baroness Lawrence and Sir Elton John are among seven high-profile figures suing Associated Newspapers Ltd, publisher of the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday, for breach of privacy. With an estimated cost of £38m ($85m), the nine-week trial is due to conclude at the end of this month.
English wrote six of the 14 stories comprising Prince Harry’s claim.
Among them is an article published in January 2006 revealing that Davy, then 20, had told friends she was “madly in love” with the Prince but was worried about how they could maintain their romance when she was living thousands of miles away in Cape Town.
The story included a reference to a “beautiful” silver bracelet Harry had given her as a belated Christmas present and that she had been showing off to her family.
David Sherborne, representing all seven claimants, told English on Monday, as she was cross-examined, that the information could have come only from voicemail messages left between the couple.
English replied: “That is both wrong and deeply offensive.”
She said she had “never heard” of the various private investigators and companies alleged to have been engaged in unlawful activity on behalf of the Mail, had never used them or asked anyone to do so on her behalf.
The veteran journalist, who has covered the royal beat since 2004, said the details had come from a variety of sources, including a witness in Mozambique, where the couple were on holiday at the time.
Another story at the heart of the duke’s claim, published in December 2004 and headed “How Harry fell in love”, described a campfire discussion in Botswana in the early days of his relationship with Davy.
When he gave evidence in January, he alleged that the information was probably picked up when he “talked about it on a voicemail” or via other communication.
Sherborne said Harry had told the court he would not have shared such “intimate information” with strangers.
English replied: “All I can say is that he did, and that one of those people called the news desk and the reporter took down the details.”
She said someone who was there had contacted the paper to tip them off about what had been said.
When Sherborne suggested that payments were made to private investigators at the same time as the story was published, English said he was “randomly plucking figures out of thin air to see if they fit my story”, reiterating that she had never heard of the recipients he named.
The duke has also alleged that a South African-based freelancer, Mike Behr, was commissioned to obtain unlawfully Davy’s flight details for a journey from London to South Africa.
The court was shown a memo sent from Behr to English in which he included the relevant seat numbers and suggested she “plant someone next to her” on the flight.
Sherborne said the information “could only have been obtained from the computer system” of the airline.
English replied: “I do not know how this could have been obtained because it was never asked for and it was never acted upon.”
She said she would never have planted someone next to Davy, telling Sherborne it was a “fanciful suggestion both by him and by you”.
Another of the stories comprising Harry’s claim concerns a joint statement released by him and his brother, Prince William, in July 2006 in response to the publication of a photograph of their dying mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, in the Italian media.
Sherborne said the article, Let Her Rest in Peace, referred to an “intimate and personal conversation” between the princes as they discussed the rare step of issuing a public response.
English noted how unusual it was for the brothers to react to such personal matters and said she was interested in whether they had made the decision together or if one or the other had driven it.
She said she had simply asked the Clarence House press office. “I cannot say it more clearly, I am telling you the press office gave me that information,” she told the court.
Sherborne appeared incredulous that royal aides would share such information, asking why other journalists did not have it and why it was not attributed to the press office.
English explained that such details are often provided as background guidance, off the record, and that not all journalists ask the same questions of the palace.
Sherborne said a payment of £1145 ($2580) for “Confidential Enqs” was made to a private investigator around the date of the story. But English replied: “There was no payment made to anyone for this story. You are trying to clutch at random payments to fit a narrative and that narrative is not true.”
Antony White KC, for Associated, has said that any link between the payment and the story was “pure guesswork”.
Associated is a subsidiary of Daily Mail and General Trust, Lord Rothermere’s holding company, which has agreed to acquire The Telegraph for £500m. The proposed takeover will be subjected to a four-month investigation by regulators on public interest and competition grounds.
The trial continues.
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