'Grotesque And Sadistic' Key Claims In Harry's Scathing Attack On Tabloids

Prince Harry has released an extraordinary witness statement as part of a court battle over alleged phone hacking by the publisher of the Sun and News of the World, owned by Rupert Murdoch

- Ben Quinn, Jim Waterson

Here are some of its key claims:

The queen agreed to take on Murdoch

"I remember speaking to my brother and saying something along the lines of 'enough of this, I want to get permission to push for a resolution to our phone-hacking claims and a formal apology from Murdoch before any of his people are allowed anywhere near the wedding [to Meghan in 2018]' or words to that effect.

"I felt very angry about his newspapers' appalling treatment of my wife and frustrated that nothing had been resolved on the phone-hacking front during the previous 12 months, and I thought (naively perhaps) that this might prove the perfect opportunity to air our grievances and force a resolution to our phone-hacking claims that had, up to that point, been denied to us on account of the secret agreement that had been reached between the institution [royal family] and senior executives at NGN [News Group Newspapers]... and, of course, to force an apology from Murdoch.

"William was very understanding and supportive and agreed. He therefore suggested that I seek permission from 'granny'. I spoke to her said something along the lines of 'are you happy for me to push this forward, do I have your permission?' and she said 'yes'.