Murdoch 'turned a blind eye' to wrongdoing, say Harry's lawyers

Rupert Murdoch "turned a blind eye" to an extensive cover-up of wrongdoing at his newspapers, Prince Harry's lawyers have alleged at the high court in London.

- Alexandra Topping

The direct allegations against the 93-year-old billionaire about activity at his publications are the latest stage in Harry's war against the tabloid media, with lawyers for the Duke of Sussex and others accusing the media mogul of overseeing a "culture of impunity" at News Group Newspapers (NGN), the publisher of the Sun and the now defunct News of the World.

Court papers, which cover a period from the mid-1990s until 2016, also allege that Sir Will Lewis, the newly appointed publisher of Jeff Bezos's Washington Post, played a key role in deleting millions of potentially incriminating emails related to unlawful news gathering when he was tasked with managing the fallout from phone hacking.

In July, Mr Justice Fancourt concluded that the duke could not bring his claim relating to phone hacking against the publisher and rejected his argument that there was a secret deal between the publisher and senior royals.

But he ruled that Harry's claim over other allegations, including use of private investigators and invasion of privacy, should go to a trial, due to take place in January 2025.

In a three-day hearing starting yesterday, lawyers for the claimants who include the actor Hugh Grant and the Labour peer Doreen Lawrence asked the judge for permission to change details of their case against NGN to include allegations, including that there was a cover-up by senior executives.