Harry and Elton John's claims against Daily Mail dismissed

The Duke of Sussex, Sir Elton John and others’ claims over alleged unlawful information gathering by the Daily Mail’s publisher have been dismissed by a High Court judge.

Harry arrived in the UK on Monday evening and so was in the country when the judgment was published on Tuesday afternoon, after an 11-week trial earlier this year in his claim against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) over alleged unlawful information gathering.

A group of household names, also including Baroness Doreen Lawrence, Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish, alleged acts including voicemail interception, landline tapping and obtaining information by deception – also known as “blagging”, carried out by private investigators, freelance journalists and ANL staff.

ANL had strongly denied the claims and defended the case, saying it “has established a complete defence to all parts of the claims on the merits” and that the cases have been brought too late.

Judge Mr Justice Nicklin gave his written ruling on the case via email at 2pm.