Imogen James
Reporting from the High Court

White says although the allegations are made against ANL the company, they are "in reality made against the individual journalists".

He called the allegations "very serious". All of the journalists would have to be lying to the court about the articles - this has an "inherit improbability", White argues.

His next point is that most articles were written between 15-20 years ago.

It's a "striking feature" of ANL's defence that it has been able to obtain evidence from almost all of the journalists that wrote the articles in question, explaining to their best recollection the sourcing of articles.

Though it's inevitable, given the length of time, that some circumstances have change e.g. some have died, some have retired, others have moved to new companies, White says.

This makes it "more striking" that they have produced so much evidence, White adds.

"The fact that they are willing and able to do so speaks volumes of the culture" of ANL, he says.

Imogen James
Reporting from the High Court

We are now onto the opening arguments for Associated Newspapers Limited, who have consistently denied any wrongdoing.

Antony White KC is speaking, representing the publisher.

He says the articles don't appear out of nowhere, and are generally the continuation of ongoing, widespread reporting.

Many contain what has previously been reported, he says, calling the sources "inherently likely" for the articles in question.

He says they present a "compelling pattern of legitimate sourcing".

Imogen James
Reporting from the High Court

I can't help but notice that sitting on the desks of Prince Harry and Elizabeth Hurley are copies of Rogue: The Rise and Fall of Mazher 'Fake Sheikh' Mahmood.

The book is described as an analysis of the controversial journalistic career of the reporter Mahmood, who called himself the Fake Sheikh.

He worked for the now defunct News of the World, which ceased trading after the phone hacking scandal.

He also worked for the Sun on Sunday, and was sent to prison after an infamous sting on a pop singer.

The book details how he operated.

A fitting choice?

Tom Symonds
Reporting from the High Court

Coming to a close, David Sherborne refers to commentary about the case, in the media.

"None of the smoke and mirrors or the carefully orchestrated propaganda and attacks on witnesses can save Associated at this time. They have to live by their all or nothing defence."

He says the damages must be significant

"But it is not the claim for damages which brings these claimants here it's uncovering the truth."

Imogen James
Reporting from the High Court

Sherborne is now going into when each claimant discovered the claims.

He says many of them were reassured when they watched Associated Newspaper Limited's repeated public denials of liability in the years before, especially under oath at the Leveson Inquiry into press standards.

Baroness Lawrence: Early January 2022, when she learnt private investigators confessed to illegal activity targeting her. She was "utterly shocked".

Duke of Sussex: 2020 - He was "put off the scent" until he was told that he had been targeted by Associated.

Sir Elton John and David Furnish: January 2021. The court is told that Elizabeth Hurley told them that she had found out in 2020 that she had been targeted by investigator Gavin Burrows, and they had too.

Sadie Frost: Shortly before January 2019, when she learned about voicemails being intercepted on her nanny's phone.

Sir Simon Hughes: 2022. This was when he first saw "direct internal material" that indicated private investigators had been used by Associated against him.

Helena Wilkinson
Reporting from the High Court

Inside court 76, where we are, among the teams of barristers and solicitors are three of the 7 claimants.

Elizabeth Hurley, who is with her son again today, is one row behind the claimant's barrister David Sherborne.

Prince Harry is a row behind appearing to listen intently.

There is a desk of screens in front of him and others which are used to bring up the various newspaper articles being referred to by the claimants.

Former MP Sir Simon Hughes is also here today.

A reminder that none of them will be giving evidence today.

Prince Harry will be the first witness for the claimants on Thursday.

Tom Symonds
Reporting from the High Court

Sherborne says Associated Newspapers Limited argues the claimants are too late, despite the fact that "they chose to conceal these activities at the time".

"We say Associated's position is preposterous and particularly difficult for the claimants to stomach."

"Attack is the only form of defence for Associated."

Here are the key dates to help you understand this.

The legal action was announced in October 2022, so David Sherborne says he will show that the 7 claimants only realised they had a potential legal case after October 2016, six years before.

As a reminder, the Daily Mail's publishers have denied all wrongdoing and will be given opportunity to respond to the claims as the case progresses.

Tom Symonds
Reporting from the High Court

We're now onto the vital issue in this case, whether the claimants have run out time to sue Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL).

Privacy cases must usually be brought within six years of the alleged breach, unless victims can show that for some reason they couldn't bring a case at the time. Since many of these allegations date back decades, ANL will be trying to show that the cases aren't valid because they fall foul of the limitation rule.

The claimants are trying to prove they couldn't take legal action until relatively recently partly because ANL denied involvement in unlawful activity at the Leveson Inquiry into press standards in 2012. They say this made it harder for them to make their claim at that point.

David Sherborne is telling the court that the publisher disclosed to the public inquiry records about payments to private investigators.

It was also shown evidence about Steve Whittamore, a convicted private investigator, who was the subject of an inquiry by the Information Commissioners Officer, known as Operation Motorman.

ANL, he says, also carried out a number of internal inquiries and knew its journalists had spent £3m on using private investigators.

Imogen James
Reporting from the High Court

We're back after a short break.

David Sherborne moves the focus away from the claimants' particular arguments, and instead turns on the alleged use of private investigators by Associated Newspapers Limited.

He says that senior executives approved the commissioning and payments to private investigators.

Sherborne then spends a lot of time discussing private investigator Steve Whittamore. We heard about him yesterday. Sherborne alleged that David Dillon, Mail on Sunday news desk executive, approved invoices for Whittamore, after journalists asked him to track down the celebrity owners of various vehicles.

Sherborne says Whittamore carried out unlawful activities including: obtaining ex-directory numbers, friends and family number lists, subscriber details, itemised phone bills, criminal record checks and vehicle registration numbers.

He shows several invoices between the Mail and Whittamore, and says there is information that "couldn't possibly be lawfully obtained".

Tom Symonds
Reporting from the High Court

David Sherborne is now onto the case involving the former senior Liberal Democrat Sir Simon Hughes.

His first example relates to the moment in 2006 when Sir Simon was "outed on the front page of the Sun" after the paper's political editor confronted him, saying he had called a gay chatline.

This was during the party's leadership race at the time, which Sir Simon lost. The barrister says the Mail was also "prepared to exploit his sexuality."

He tells the court the Daily Mail paid Greg Miskiw, to get information on Sir Simon's partner, who is anonymous in this case and known by the initials HJK. Miskiw, he says, turned to the notorious, and later convicted, phone hacker Glenn Mulcaire.

The story never ran because of other news, but David Sherborne says there is evidence the Mail on Sunday paid Greg Miskiw £500 for his work.

Tom Symonds
Reporting from the High Court

Turning to the cases of Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish, their barrister said in 2010 the Daily Mail published details about the birth of their surrogate son in Los Angeles, obtaining his birth certificate before they did.

Journalists Ben Todd and David Gardner claimed the information had been given to a journalist over the phone by the LA registry office.

David Sherborne asks whether it was plausible a registrar would provide confirmation of the birth over the phone to a journalist before a birth certificate was even issued.

No he says, it was obtained through blagging.

This generally means calling up officials and pretending to be someone else, to get information which reporters would not normally be given.

Imogen James
Reporting from the High Court

In another article, dated 28 September 2002, related to the difficulties Hurley faced meeting a new partner and being a single mother. Sherborne says there are "very, very private details" in this article.

"It's her innermost thoughts and feelings about her private life as a result of having had a baby," Sherborne says.

In the face of this exclusive detail, the journalist Nicole Lampert is vague about where she got the information from.

There are a "number of chunky payments" made to private investigating firm ELI from Lampert at this time, Sherborne alleges.

Two payments to ELI on 1 and 2 October 2002, are titled "Nicole Lampert inquiries". Both are £170.

Imogen James
Reporting from the High Court

David Sherborne is switching focus to actress Elizabeth Hurley. She has complaints about 14 articles between 2002 and 2011.

Sherborne first brings up two articles by Victoria Newton from 20 and 21 June 2002 about the paternity of her son.

Newton is the editor of The Sun, and used to be the showbiz editor for the Daily Mail.

Hurley says very few people knew the details about the heated conversations she had with Steve Bing, father of Damian Hurley, at the time of the paternity battle.

They were had over the phone, Sherborne explains.

An invoice from Newton to private investigator firm TDI falls on the exact date that Hurley had checked into hospital to have her baby, Sherborne says.

The invoice bares the annotation "re Miss Hurley pregnant". Sherborne says this shows Newton's "persistent interest" in Hurley.

Newton has "no explanation" for the information in the article, Sherborne continues.

Tom Symonds
Reporting from the High Court

Another story in December 2007 covered Harry's plans to take Chelsy Davy on a "make or break holiday".

Sherborne says there was "striking evidence" this came from a private investigator called Mike Behr who obtained "precise details" of flight plans.

But he tells the court, this wasn't easy.

In an email to a Mail staffer, Behr wrote: "Had to do several searches".

Chelsy Davy was "on standby and then at the last min paid cash for a ticket at the airport. Maybe this is their way to try to avoid detection", the email said.

The investigators, working for the Mail, "went to such lengths that despite everything the Duke of Sussex and Chelsy Davy did to maintain their privacy, it was entirely frustrated," Sherborne says.

He says the inference the information was unlawfully obtained was "absolutely obvious."

Imogen James
Reporting from the High Court

Sherborne moves onto his final example for the Duke of Sussex's case.

It was published in 2010 and written by Katie Nicholl.

It contains "specific and intimate details" of his private life and relationship with Chelsy Davy, Sherborne says. One line says Harry was a regular fixture at Davy's house.

The article also includes their plans as a couple and the Duke's "preferences of where he likes to spend the night".

Prince Harry says this is "highly sensitive" information in his witness statement. Sherborne says Prince Harry's evidence is "absolutely firm" that it couldn't have come from another person other than Davy or him, and neither of them shared this.

This could not have "conceivably" have come from a legitimate source, Sherborne says.

Nicholl's evidence is from her notebooks, which shows she obtained these details from Garth Gibbs. He was living alone on the Isle of Wight in semi-retirement in his last year alive during this time.

Sherborne says it is "utterly implausible" that he could have provided this information to Nicholl. Instead, they allege she used unlawful information gathering techniques.

He says her "credibility" becomes critical here.

Imogen James
Reporting from the High Court

Sherborne raises another article, this time it's written by Rebecca English. She's the Daily Mail's current royal editor. She was the royal correspondent when these articles were published.

Yesterday, Sherborne accused her of "obtaining the exact plane seats, flight times and travel plans" of Prince Harry's then-girlfriend Chelsy Davy in December 2007.

We are hearing more about this article now.

Prince Harry's witness statement says this was not only "intrusive" information, but it also carried security risks.

Sherborne says the evidence shows English paid £200 for this information to private investigation Mike Behr, including Davy's seat number.

English says she doesn't remember this email, he adds.

It was "entirely frustrating" that this information came out, while Prince Harry was trying to maintain a private relationship, the duke says in his witness statement.

Prince Harry says it's "deeply disturbing" seeing this information in the article, and that neither he nor Davy were sharing this information with others.

"It demonstrates irresistibly" that English used unlawful information gathering, Sherborne says.

Helena Wilkinson
Reporting from the High Court

David Sherborne says that in his witness statement the Duke of Sussex speaks of the impact this has had; the "distress, paranoia" and the "other feelings it generated".

Given what we have seen is it any wonder he feels that way, Sherborne says.

The barrister confirms that Prince Harry will give evidence on Thursday.

Tom Symonds
Reporting from the High Court

Sherborne is going through examples of stories about Chelsy Davy, Prince Harry's girlfriend in the 2000s, who was studying in Capetown.

Initially the newspapers did not have her full name, but Sherborne says a private investigator was getting information about her British Airways flights allowing royal reporters to write stories about her.

These included a story in 2004 that Prince Harry planned to fly her to a private lodge in Argentina.

Sherborne says emails disclosed in the case clearly relate to the payment of information unlawfully obtained from British Airways, through blagging.

He calls the explanations of the journalists involved "nonsensical".

Imogen James
Reporting from the High Court

We continue to move through the articles Prince Harry has claimed used unlawfully gathered information.

The one David Sherborne now references is from 2004, about Harry's ex-partner Chelsy Davy.

What we see are their travel plans together, including the fact that the Prince brought her out on a private hunting expedition to a lodge in Argentina, Sherborne says.

There were a number of journalists involved in this article feeding different information, the lawyer continues.

An email from Heather Briley to Caroline Graham at the Daily Mail, at the same time of this article, says: "Have spoken to contact at British Airways here half an hour ago and offered $$ in return for name. He's gone off to investigate."

"Harry is paranoid about her being outed", another email says that is shown to court. It's from Caroline Graham, sent to David Dillon, her desk editor.

"We say these emails clearly refer to the payment of information unlawfully obtained through British Airways through payments or blagging," lawyer David Sherborne says.

Imogen James
Reporting from the High Court

Prince Harry's argument contains 14 articles he says were written using unlawfully gathered information about his private life.

The first article in question is from 2001, when Prince Harry was chosen as godfather to Tiggy Legge-Bourke's child.

Legge-Bourke was "familiar" with keeping information private, Sherborne says, yet the article contained this very private information and the "all-important quote" comes from her.

Katie Nicholl, the author, claims she might have heard it from a party planner and stood it up with a socialite, Sherborne says.

"Neither of them, we say, are plausible as sources," the lawyer continues, and Prince Harry says neither of them would have known.