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The royal family
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51
binkie163 · 17/02/2026 20:00

The general feeling seems to be if the claimant didn't give the info/ press release then it must be uig. They seem to forget others also had the same info, friends, family and trusted confidante. Yet to see any direct uig proof on any article.
DL said she believed her bank accounts were hacked? None of the stories were about her financial situation. The criminal compensation £320k is public domain info.

jeffgoldblum · 17/02/2026 20:01

Not sure if anyone has seen this yet?

CraftyGin · 17/02/2026 20:15

My first attempt at archiving.

Telegraph Tuesday

Race campaigner ‘immensely hurt’ by Baroness Lawrence’s phone hacking accusations

Lunde · 17/02/2026 20:28

Times article archived

https://archive.is/BT79A

Lunde · 17/02/2026 20:30

Stephen Wright speaks the truth about Sherborne

In tetchy exchanges with David Sherborne, who is acting for all seven claimants, Mr Wright accused the barrister of throwing “lorry loads of dirt” at him over the course of the legal action, suggesting that it suited him to believe the spurious claims because he had “nothing else”.

https://archive.is/eLzav#selection-3399.0-3402.0

elessar · 17/02/2026 20:45

Thank you for the archive links!

Wright’s defence sounds very impassioned and credible from the reporting. It wouldn’t do any of these celebrity claimants any harm to remember that the journalists whose names they’re dragging through the mud are people too.

its funny, in an ironic way, that I’m sure they’d probably say they deserve it because of what they did, yet the same celebs don’t feel they deserve any scrutiny or negative coverage despite choosing a life in the public eye.

you don’t get a sense from the articles that Sherborne managed to land any real blows against Wright, but it’s so hard without having full reporting,

TheAutumnCrow · 17/02/2026 20:51

In written submissions, [Stephen Wright] told the court: “The suggestion that I did not have true motives as a race campaigner was immensely hurtful, not only because of my career track record fighting racism, but also because of my personal circumstances (my wife, whom Lady Lawrence has met, is a woman of colour, as are our precious daughters).

You really get a sense of his personal hurt coming through here.

bluegreygreen · 17/02/2026 20:51

Thanks all

Great archiving @CraftyGin!

Isn't Jonathan Rees the person who in a Dispatches programme has denied being involved and said the claimants would have to 'think again'?

OP posts:
Puzzledandpissedoff · 17/02/2026 21:17

If Wright's testimony is accurate it seems Doreen's picked the wrong person to attack this time - and isn't it rather odd that she's there at all after all the Mail did to get justice for her murdered son?

The allegation that they only did it to be seen to be supporting a black family seems unfortunate at best, and as I've said before flinging herself into the fray because of something Harry told her also seems pretty questionable

bluegreygreen · 17/02/2026 21:50

Agree, Wright does sound personally hurt - and I can imagine that the security worry has been genuine.

Lady Lawrence largely relies on claims made by two private investigators, Jonathan Rees and Gavin Burrows. Both were said to have “confessed” to conducting unlawful activity on behalf of the Mail but have since denied such activity.

I know we're only getting information a couple of steps removed now, but so far it doesn't sound like there is additional direct evidence linking ANL to unlawful information gathering in relation to DL.

Derek Haslam, a former undercover police investigator who claimed to have heard Rees say he worked for Wright
Someone heard someone say he worked for the reporter: not direct evidence, especially if one party is now denying it (and the other hasn't given evidence of illegal activity).

Christine Hart, another private investigator, told James Hanning, a former deputy editor of the Independent on Sunday, that she posed as a journalist from The Guardian to contact Lawrence, the court heard. Wright said Hanning “has a pathological hatred of the Daily Mail” and had given Hart £4,000 cash on behalf of a researcher of the celebrities’ legal team.

I still find this story interesting.
First, there's the fact that she's been paid for it - and the payments to witnesses by the researchers I am finding very dubious.
Secondly, the story was that she phoned DL and said she was from the Guardian, so DL gave an interview. DL has said on the witness stand that she didn't give telephone interviews - always face to face.

OP posts:
GottaKeepItClassy · 17/02/2026 21:56

Thanks @bluegreygreen and others for the informative posts and links.

I wonder what DL thoughts are now, having listened to Wright in court today.

jeffgoldblum · 18/02/2026 00:50

Sorry obviously my links were not working.

AlwaysRightISwear · 18/02/2026 07:15

Wright is an impressive and convincing witness.

ThePoshUns · 18/02/2026 09:04

Thanks for the link @Lunde, Wrights evidence is the most compelling so far.

bluegreygreen · 18/02/2026 09:24

Thanks @Lunde.

Useful further details from that report.

“In 2014, Rees featured in a damning Daily Mail series (instigated by me) exposing overlapping corruption in the Daniel Morgan and Stephen Lawrence case. His lawyer threatened to sue the Daily Mail for libel in frosty correspondence with me before publication when I introduced myself to him and gave his client a right of reply. I don’t otherwise think that I have had contact with Rees.”

Interesting that Wright can show he was instrumental in exposing corruption by Rees, making it clearly extremely unlikely he would have been working with Rees against DL.

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binkie163 · 18/02/2026 09:35

Something I am confused about is DL saying DM/SW paid Christine Hart to blag her on the phone saying she was from the guardian?
The DM had the closest media relationship with the family why would they ask a freelancer to do that when they had direct contact? Doesn't make sense.

DM never employed CH, Johnson and Evans said she is a fantasist. DL also said she never conducted interviews on the phone.

They have also dropped the serious charge of burglary of homes/info I doubt any reported burglary at the time if it happened, you would report if for no other reason than for your insurance company.

Hard to prove phone tapping but if info was blagged, surely the person blagged would be able to stand up and say, it was me, I gave confidential information away without due checks and the exact info I gave appeared here, on this date.

binkie163 · 18/02/2026 09:44

To add:
I can imagine other media outlets may have conned the Lawrence family as they didn't have direct access to them but DL says she trusted DM/SW and had no reason not to. Her husband also in direct contact with SW and gave him copies of letters from CPS, police etc
They wouldn't risk that relationship by acting like twats.

PrayForMyBum · 18/02/2026 10:11

It feels like SW just gave the perfect evidence (for ANL) - he came across as human, not defensive, and with just the right amount of balance between emotion and reason. I don't mean that cynically. It looks honest.
And it still isn't on SW to prove he didn't do the things he's accused of - it's on the claimants to prove he did. Still waiting.....

PrayForMyBum · 18/02/2026 10:16

Not sure what's happening in court today - PA schedule just says they're covering it, but not who is appearing (and yesterday they said ex-MoS editor Peter Wright was expected, so....either they got PW and SW mixed up, or they're just as clueless!).

The draft schedule shows Stephen Wright timetabled for 1.5 to 2 days, so he may be continuing his evidence.

bluegreygreen · 18/02/2026 10:20

binkie163 · 18/02/2026 09:44

To add:
I can imagine other media outlets may have conned the Lawrence family as they didn't have direct access to them but DL says she trusted DM/SW and had no reason not to. Her husband also in direct contact with SW and gave him copies of letters from CPS, police etc
They wouldn't risk that relationship by acting like twats.

Agree with all your points @binkie163 but especially this - it just doesn't make sense when looked at logically

OP posts:
Puzzledandpissedoff · 18/02/2026 10:23

Something I am confused about is DL saying DM/SW paid Christine Hart to blag her on the phone saying she was from the guardian?
The DM had the closest media relationship with the family why would they ask a freelancer to do that when they had direct contact? Doesn't make sense

More to the point, @binkie163, what's this about Doreen "not giving phone interviews" when Hart has supposedly rung her pretending to be from the Guardian?

binkie163 · 18/02/2026 11:54

Exactly just doesn't stack up.
If there was a phone interview she identified herself as press 🤷 so why be surprised if speaking to a reporter it ended in a news story (who'd of thought that)
Why would DL entertain an interview with guardian as she had personal relationship with DM who she could call anytime. DM didn't have to pretend to be anyone else as had direct line to the family.
In her witness statement she said she never gave phone interviews which made the whole point moot. Followed up by CH being labelled a fantasist by her own side.

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