LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Hugh Grant was denied the right to sue The Sun tabloid for allegedly hacking his phone. The actor, a prominent backer of the anti-tabloid press movement Hacked Off, had filed a lawsuit against The Sun journalists. On Friday, May 26, a High Court judge decided that Grant's claim could not be taken into account since it was made too late after he learned of possible illegal hacking activity.
The 'Notting Hill' actor claims that private detective Gavin Burrows, employed by 'The Sun', attempted illegal "information gathering" from his home. News Group Newspapers (NGN), the owner of The Sun, attempted to have his case stopped on the grounds that he launched it too late. For 30 years, this time limit has grown into a significant legal issue in cases against media outlets, as reported by BBC News.
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Hugh Grant's phone hacking claims dismissed
The 62-year-old actor was given permission by Mr Justice Fancourt to pursue legal action against The Sun in connection with other claims of "illegal information gathering." Grant's phone hacking claims were rejected by the judge on the grounds of time limitations, noting that the actor, who has been a significant figure in the Hacked Off press reform movement, was fully aware of the voicemail interception incident and could have launched the claim much earlier, as per Daily Mail.
The Sun's parent company, NGN, had contended that Grant did not file his lawsuit within the allotted six-year window. Justice Fancourt stated: "It was only on seeing invoices disclosed... in 2021 that Mr Grant believed that private investigators had been instructed by The Sun to target him in various ways, particularly in 2011."
Reportedly, Grant and News Group's former newspaper News of the World previously reached a settlement in a phone hacking dispute. The tabloid was shut down in 2011 during the height of the hacking controversy after it came to light that it had accessed the voicemails of a murdered girl as well as those of famous people, athletes, politicians, and members of the royal family.
In a statement released on Friday, a representative for News Group expressed satisfaction with the court's decision to reject Grant's phone hacking claims. The statement read, "NGN strongly denies the various historical allegations of unlawful information-gathering contained in what remains of Mr. Grant’s claim."
Why did Hugh Grant sue The Sun newspaper?
Grant alleges that The Sun's reporters employed private detectives to gather information about him through methods like "landline tapping, bugging, and blagging," and he claims that three burglaries were carried out in an unauthorized effort to get articles.
Grant stated: "In addition to hacking my phone and tapping my landline, (Burrows) was aware that my premises had been burgled by people working for The Sun and that a tracking device had been placed in my car. I found this astonishing."
As per Independent, the matter was addressed at a hearing last month that included covered charges of phone hacking made by Prince Harry against News Group, the British newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch. News Group said at a hearing last month that Grant and Prince Harry's allegations of illegal information collecting should be dismissed since they were made more than six years after the fact.
