Prince Harry has been told by a London High Court judge that he will not be allowed to bring claims that he was the victim of bugging and tracking devices.
For six years, Harry has been suing News Group Newspapers, which publishes The Sun newspaper, for alleged unlawful information gathering by journalists and their contractors.
The Times of London reports that the judge ruled Friday, Harry must settle or go to trial in January. He permitted Harry’s legal team to make certain amendments, but refused to let them include allegations that bugs were placed in rooms and cars, and trackers placed on vehicles, saying: “No particulars whatsoever of such allegations have been provided.”
During his summing up, Mr Justice Fancourt described the lawsuit as resembling a campaign between “two obdurate but well-resourced armies” that is taking up “more than an appropriate” amount of court time.
He had criticism for both opposing parties, for Harry in adding “new causes of action that had not been pleaded in the original draft” and for the publisher in raising new objections to parts of the prince’s claim.
As well as News Group, Harry is also suing Associated Newspapers, publishers of the Daily Mail, which denies any wrongdoing.
