Former Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre has clashed in court with a lawyer, calling some of the allegations in a case against his newspaper group by a number of celebrities and Prince Harry “preposterous”.
The 77-year-old called for for “a sense of proportion” and echoed his earlier witness statement, which said some of the claims “have astonished, appalled and – in the small hours of the night – reduced me to rage.”
Mr Dacre, who was editor of the Daily Mail between 1992 and 2018, was the first witness giving evidence in support of Associated Newspapers Limited’s defence, entering the witness stand on Tuesday afternoon, in the fourth week of the trial.
The group litigation is being brought by seven high-profile individuals, including The Duke of Sussex, Sir Elton John and Liz Hurley, who claim Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) hired private detectives to commit a series of unlawful acts between 1993 and 2011.
The other claimants are David Furnish, Sadie Frost, anti-racism campaigner Baroness Doreen Lawrence, and Sir Simon Hughes.
Allegations range from tapping their phones and bugging their homes to paying police officials for inside information and getting medical records by deception.
ANL denies the allegations and says none of the information for the stories complained of was unlawfully obtained.
Ex Mail boss: ‘My heart bleeds for Doreen Lawrence’
Mr Dacre, who is now the editor-in-chief of DMG Media, the holding company of ANL, previously told the Leveson Inquiry in 2012 there was “no phone hacking on the Daily Mail”.
When asked in court about documents showing the Daily Mail and The Mail On Sunday spent more than £3m on private investigators during the relevant period, Mr Dacre said while he had a “vague memory” of the discovery of such invoices, he was unable to comment on the sum without “more specifics”.
Early in his evidence, he said his “heart bleeds” for Baroness Doreen Lawrence, the mother of 1993 murder victim Stephen Lawrence, but would not generalise about his feelings towards the other six claimants.
Baroness Doreen Lawrence outside court in the third week of the trial. Pic: Reuters
In his witness statement, Mr Dacre called Lady Lawrence’s claims “especially bewildering and bitterly wounding to me personally”.
The paper conducted a 15-year campaign to bring Stephen’s killers to justice, including a front-page story on Valentine’s Day 1997, labelling five men – Gary Dobson, Neil Acourt, Jamie Acourt, Luke Knight, and David Norris – as “murderers” and challenging them to sue the newspaper for libel.
Mr Dacre described it as “the campaign of which I am most proud”.
In her claim, Lady Lawrence alleges ANL had targeted her with hidden electronic surveillance, as well as tapping her landline, monitoring her bank account and making payments to police officers for confidential information, with the court told she felt “like a victim all over again”.
In his written evidence, Mr Dacre said that it was “inconceivable” that anyone at the Daily Mail would have carried out the alleged activities, and said the story was personally given to him by the then home secretary Jack Straw.
He also said “the suggestion that we ran the campaign to generate exclusive headlines, sell newspapers and profit is sickeningly misplaced and bleakly cynical”.
Liz Hurley leaving court with her son Damian Hurley in the first week of the trial. Pic: Reuters
Report was a ‘wake-up’ call
When asked by the claimants’ lawyer David Sherborne if he was motivated by a desire to “protect his legacy” rather than get to the truth, Mr Dacre said, while he did wish to clear his name, he also cared about the paper and “the honest and dedicated staff who work for it”.
Mr Dacre called a 2006 Information Commissioner’s Office report, which showed journalists at the Mail were the top users of private detective Steve Whittamore, a “wake-up call” which set “alarm bells ringing”.
While he said he would not attempt to “justify the figures”, he said in the three months following the report, he had “stamped out the use of search agencies”.
Mr Dacre also described his lack of technical know-how to the court, and said in his witness statement: “I didn’t ever use a personal computer and barely knew how to log on.”
ANL’s barrister Antony White KC has previously said that ANL was defending the claims both on their merits and for being brought too late and that the allegations in relation to Lady Lawrence “are denied in their entirety” and “are unsupported by the available evidence”.
Sadie Frost with her son Finlay Munro Kemp on the second week of the trial. Pic: PA
Meanwhile, the claimants’ lawyer Mr Sherborne has accused the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday of being engaged in unlawful information gathering over “at least two decades”, claiming they have “skeletons in their closet”.
Giving evidence in the first week of the trial, Prince Harry opened up about his experiences with the media, appearing emotional as he recounted how the press “made my wife’s life misery”.
Actress Liz Hurley gave evidence the following day, becoming tearful as she described the alleged “brutal invasion” of her privacy by the media.
Mr Dacre will continue his evidence on Wednesday morning.
The trial before Mr Justice Nicklin is due to conclude in March, with a judgment in writing due at a later date.
