Prince Harry's destroyed messages spark legal battle with The Sun

The Duke must explain why messages with his ghostwriter were destroyed, impacting his legal battle with The Sun.

Prince Harry has been ordered to explain why messages with his ghostwriter were destroyed after the publication of his memoir 'Spare,' as they could be relevant to his legal battle with The Sun's publishers.

According to The Guardian, the Duke of Sussex must also attempt to retrieve these messages from Signal, and his lawyers have been instructed to search through other communications from 2005 to January 2023 for relevant documents.

Anthony Hudson KC, representing News Group Newspapers (NGN), accused Prince Harry of “obfuscation” and creating an “obstacle course” during efforts to find relevant material for the litigation over his allegations of unlawful information gathering. Hudson told the High Court judge, Mr Justice Fancourt, that Harry had to be forced “kicking and screaming” to search his communications.

NGN argued that Signal messages between 2020 and 2023 were important as 'Spare' contained extensive references to Harry’s knowledge and suspicion of unlawful information gathering before 2013, the applicable date in the case. If he believed he had a potential claim before 2013, the case could be dismissed for being filed too late, The Guardian reports.

Judge Fancourt described “troubling evidence” of the destruction of relevant documents and ordered Harry to explain what happened to the Signal messages between him and his ghostwriter, JR Moehringer. The judge expressed “real concern” that most searches for relevant documents were conducted by Harry himself rather than his solicitors.

Harry, who alleges he was targeted by journalists and private investigators working for NGN, is among several people to bring cases against the publisher. The publisher has denied any unlawful activity at The Sun.

David Sherborne, representing Harry, argued that the autobiography was “written in hindsight” and dismissed NGN’s application as a “classic fishing expedition.” Sherborne accused NGN of hypocrisy, citing their past deletion of “millions of emails.”

The judge ordered Harry to make an interim payment of £60,000 in legal costs to NGN after ruling largely in favour of the publisher.