Prince Harry’s lawyers are admonished by a High Court judge for trying ‘to shoot at “trophy” targets’ as they lose bid to drag Rupert Murdoch into hacking trial against The Sun publisher

Mr Justice Fancourt said they were trying to ‘inculpate the man at the very top’ by pinning knowledge on the media mogul personally.A trial is scheduled for next January to test claims by Prince Harry and more than 40 others that journalists working for News Group Newspapers (NGN) engaged in alleged unlawful information gathering and invasion of privacy.

Earlier this year they asked the High Court for permission to amend their case to add new details, including the names of Mr Murdoch, his son James Murdoch and senior executives at the company. They claimed Mr Murdoch was personally involved in a cover-up of wrongdoing at NGN that was perpetrated ‘right at the highest level’.

But ruling against them today, Mr Justice Fancourt said: ‘I consider that there is a desire on the part of those running the litigation on the claimants’ side to shoot at “trophy” targets, whether those are political issues or high-profile individuals.