Prince Harry’s court battle with Murdoch papers suffers major delay as judge raises ‘concerns’

Prince Harry’s trial against News Group Newspapers (NGN) was due to begin at the High Court today but has been pushed back due to a series of issues, it has been confirmed

Prince Harry’s latest legal battle at the High Court has been hit by major delays today.

The Duke of Sussex’s trial against the publisher of The Sun was due to get underway this morning, but was delayed after three requests from the legal teams.

Harry, and former Labour deputy leader Lord Tom Watson, are suing News Group Newspapers (NGN) over allegations of unlawful information-gathering. NGN, which also ran the now-defunct News Of The World, denies any unlawful activity took place at The Sun. The Duke has not travelled from his home in California to London for the opening day. It is expected he will come to the UK early next month when he is scheduled to give evidence.

The trial was due to start at 10.30am on Tuesday but was delayed twice to 2pm before a request was made by barristers for both sides for a third adjournment until 10am on Wednesday. But Mr Justice Fancourt refused the request, stating the two sides had had “ample time to seek to resolve their differences”.

Requesting a third adjournment, Anthony Hudson KC, for NGN, said the parties “have been involved in very intense negotiations over the last few days and the reality is we are very close”, adding that there were “time difference difficulties”. He said: “Very unusually, both parties are in complete agreement that this is a very important step. The number of times the parties have been in agreement in this litigation are very few and far between.”

He continued: “We do believe in the long run that this will give significant benefit to the court. For the sake of two hours, we are very concerned that if we don’t have these two hours, something that is capable of being achieved may not be achieved. The reason there is a real difficulty today is to do with time difference issues.

“These time difference difficulties will be resolved very shortly this afternoon and that is why we do suggest that if My Lord is willing to resume tomorrow at 10am, that could make a very significant difference to the parties.”

David Sherborne, for the Duke and Lord Watson, said: “Mr Hudson and I would not be asking for further time if we did not think it stood any prospect of potentially saving a lot of court time.” The parties could now go to the Court of Appeal in a bid to challenge the decision not to allow a third adjournment.

Dismissing the request for a third delay, Mr Justice Fancourt said: “I made it clear this morning when granting the second adjournment that it would be the final adjournment. I see no reason to change my mind. I am not satisfied on the basis of what I have been shown so far that the trial should not proceed at this time and will therefore not allow the further adjournment.”

He then refused the parties permission to appeal against his decision, but said: “I’m not going to stand in the way of access to justice if the parties wish to go to the Court of Appeal.” The High Court trial, which could last up to 10 weeks, is set to resume at 10am on Wednesday.