<\/p>\n
King Charles\u2019s son was part of a group of household names<\/a>, also including Sir Elton John<\/a>, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, Liz Hurley and Sadie Frost, who alleged that acts including voicemail interception, landline tapping and obtaining information by deception \u2013 known as \u201cblagging\u201d \u2013 were carried out by private investigators, freelance journalists and staff at ANL. ANL denied the claims as it defended the cases, which it also said had been brought too late. Mr Justice Nicklin said that none of the seven had proved the allegations of unlawful information gathering.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In a joint statement after the judgment, Harry and Baroness Lawrence said: \u201cIt is a complete and obvious whitewash, but sadly not altogether unexpected.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n They said: \u201cWe came to court seeking justice and accountability. But we have received neither. Generic findings about various private investigators that were held by the courts in these parallel claims to have carried out unlawful activity at the very same time in relation to similar stories and well-known individuals have been wholly ignored.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe fact that this court has chosen to dismiss them represents an inconsistency which is hard to understand or reconcile with common sense, or the evidence heard in the court room itself. It is a complete and obvious whitewash, but sadly not altogether unexpected.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cHowever, the lengths to which the court has gone to exonerate the Mail is as shocking as it is totally unwarranted. When the court says there is not sufficient evidence of wrongdoing, despite the documents showing otherwise, then one does wonder how justice was ever going to be achieved.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Harry\u2019s statement has been criticised by two former justice secretaries \u2013 Alex Chalk KC, who served under Rishi Sunak<\/a>, and Sir Robert Buckland KC, who served under Boris Johnson<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n