London judge rejects Prince Harry's bid to add allegations against Rupert Murdoch in tabloid lawsuit

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A London judge says Prince Harry can't expand his privacy lawsuit against The Sun tabloid's publisher to include allegations that Rupert Murdoch and some other executives were part of an effort to conceal and destroy evidence of unlawful information ga...

LONDON — LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry can't expand his privacy lawsuit against The Sun tabloid's publisher to add allegations that Rupert Murdoch and some other executives were part of an effort to conceal and destroy evidence of unlawful information gathering, a London judge ruled Tuesday.

The decision by Judge Timothy Fancourt in the High Court was a mixed ruling for the Duke of Sussex in one of his three invasion of privacy lawsuits he has brought in his ongoing battles against British tabloids.

Fancourt allowed the prince to include allegations that his phone was tapped and add claims against other journalists and private investigators that he and other claimants say used unlawful means to snoop on them for scoops.

But he rejected Harry's efforts to expand the case beyond the period from 1996 to 2015 to include claims of eavesdropping on his mother, the late Princess Diana, in 1994-95, and digging up private information on his now-wife, actor Meghan Markle, in 2016.

Fancourt said allegations that Murdoch “turned a blind eye” to wrongdoing added nothing material to claims made against News Group Newspapers, or NGN. The judge said those claims already include “trusted lieutenants,” naming Murdoch's younger son, James Murdoch, and Rebekah Brooks, who was editor at the defunct News of the World and The Sun.

The judge said some of Harry's efforts to blame additional executives were to further a political agenda.

“There is a desire on the part of those running the