Prince Harry accused of 'deliberately destroying' evidence in phone hacking case

Prince Harry has been accused of "deliberately destroying" evidence amidst his phone hacking case.

The Duke of Sussex has been accused by the lawyer for The Sun's publisher of destroying evidence potentially relevant to the case.

The lawyer, Anthony Hudson, claims the royal deliberately deleted text messages between him and J. R. Moehringer, the ghostwriter who helped him write his tell-all memoir, Spare, which was published early last year.

Meanwhile, Harry's lawyer, David Sherborne, has accused News Group Newspapers (NGN) of deliberately slowing down the process of requesting documents as a "fishing" tactic.

"NGN's tactical and sluggish approach to disclosure wholly undermines the deliberately sensational assertion that the claimant (Harry) has not properly carried out the disclosure exercise," the lawyer said in court documents, via The Independent. "This is untrue. In fact, the claimant has already made clear that he has conducted extensive searches, going above and beyond his obligations."

Hudson then claimed that the royal had purposely made it difficult to get the documents from his lawyer and those who worked for him when he was a working member of the royal family.

"If the claimant wanted his documents from his former solicitors' or from the royal household... he would have got them," the lawyer said.

Harry has been involved in several court cases against British tabloid publishers for more than a year, accusing them of using unlawful means to obtain information about him.

In December, he was awarded $180,000 (£142,000) in damages after a judge ruled he was the victim of phone hacking by the Mirror Group Newspapers.