Harry and five claimants seek permission to appeal rulings

Prince Harry and five other claimants have applied to the Court of Appeal for permission to challenge the dismissal of their unlawful-information-gathering claims against Associated Newspapers and a related order requiring them to pay the publisher’s legal costs. The applications seek permission to appeal both rulings; the court has not decided whether they may proceed. A joint spokesperson said the applications were filed on behalf of Harry, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, Sir Elton John, David Furnish, Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost. Court staff also confirmed that a bid to appeal had been filed. The claimants said they disagreed with the decisions and considered them legally and factually flawed. The appeal application follows a High Court judgment by Mr Justice Nicklin on July 7. He dismissed the claims after an 11-week trial, ruling that the claimants had not proved their allegations of unlawful information gathering against Associated Newspapers, which publishes the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday. The publisher denied the allegations. At trial, the claimants’ lawyers alleged that private investigators, freelance journalists and publisher staff had engaged in practices...