The Duke of Sussex was told to disclose why and how drafts of his memoir, Spare,
and messages exchanged with his ghostwriter were destroyed “well after” he sued News Group Newspapers in 2019.
Efforts must be made to retrieve the messages sent between him and author JR Moehringer, Mr Justice Fancourt said.
The judge also ordered the royal’s lawyers to write to the King’s private secretary asking for all communication records with the Duke.
It came after Anthony Hudson KC, for NGN, suggested the Duke had “deliberately destroyed” potential evidence.
The judge said the lack of documentation handed over so far by the Duke’s legal team gave him “cause for concern”.
He told the court: “I have also seen troubling evidence a large number of potentially relevant documents and messages between the Duke and the ghostwriter were destroyed well after this claim was under way.
“The position is not transparently clear and needs to be made so by way of a witness statement from the claimant himself.”
David Sherborne, for the Duke, alleged the pair communicated via Signal, but their chat was wiped to “delete highly sensitive information”.
Harry and more than 40 others are suing NGN over alleged unlawful information gathering.
A trial is scheduled for next January.
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Source: USA Today
