Duke of Sussex could face four days of questioning in case against publisher of The Sun

By Victoria Ward.

The Duke of Sussex could face four days of "extensive" questioning in his privacy trial against the publisher of The Sun, the High Court has heard.

The Duke, 40, and Lord Tom Watson, former Labour deputy leader, are suing News Group Newspapers (NGN) over alleged unlawful information gathering and invasion of privacy.

The eight-week trial is due to start in the week beginning January 20, with the Duke currently scheduled to take to the witness stand towards the end of February.

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At a pre-trial hearing on Tuesday, the Duke was accused of trying to turn the legal battle into a public inquiry after revealing his sole goal was "accountability".

He vowed never to settle the claim, insisting that he wanted to achieve "closure" for the hundreds of others forced to settle.

Anthony Hudson KC, for NGN, told the judge that the Duke's case involved 30 articles and that he would need to be questioned on each one.

The barrister said the Duke would also be quizzed about the timings of his claim, including his "actual and constructed knowledge".

He continued: "If we said anything less than up to four days, we would be at risk of running out of time."

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Mr Hudson handed the judge a transcript of an interview the Duke gave during last week's New York Times DealBrook summit.

Asked about the case at the event, the Duke said: "The goal is accountability. It's really that simple.

"Unfortunately, the scale of the cover-up is so large that people need to see it for themselves." He added: "Even if or when we win, I'm still liable for the legal costs of both sides.

"One of the main reasons for seeing this through is accountability because I'm the last person that can actually achieve that, and also closure for these 1300 people and their families."

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Mr Hudson said the comments were in "stark contrast" to a claim made by David Sherborne, the Duke's barrister, in April, that the large settlement offer would make it "impossible" for him to proceed to trial.

"It shows what's really going on," he told the judge.

"This is not about the trial of these individual claims, certainly not about the Duke's. It's about something very different.

"What it's clearly about.. it's almost by definition a public inquiry."

He added: "It's not a proper review of his claims. We say that is not legitimate."

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Only the Duke and Lord Watson are pursuing the claim after 39 others, including actor Hugh Grant, agreed settlements in recent months.

NGN, which has rejected allegations of wrongdoing, has settled some 1300 other claims without making any admission of liability.

The pre-trial hearing is set to conclude on Wednesday.

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