British justice on Friday ordered the trial of the tabloid publisher the sunsued by comedian Hugh Grant for illegal collection of information.
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The trial is scheduled for January.
The 62-year-old British actor is particularly charged sunwhose editor NGN denies any illegal operation, turned to private investigators.
Judge Timothy Fancourt ruled that Hugh Grant’s lawsuits should be dealt with at trial, except in part for the phone hack. The judge considered that the perpetrator should have started the proceedings earlier in this regard.
A similar action was initiated by Prince Harry. The decision to go to trial will be known in the coming months.
In his conclusions, he criticizes Hugh Grant sun “Illegal acts” including “sponsored burglary, encroaching on private property to obtain information by placing microphones, listening in on fixed phone lines”, as well as “phone hacking and using private investigators to get the whole thing done”.
A spokesperson for NGN said the phone hacking charges were dropped, saying the group “vehemently denies the accusations of illegal information gathering contained in What’s Left of Mr. Grant”.
Hugh Grant welcomed the judge’s decision, and considered it “essential for the truth to come out” about the activities of the court sunasserting that this case “goes further than intercepting voicemail messages”.
“Evil thinker. Music scholar. Hipster-friendly communicator. Bacon geek. Amateur internet enthusiast. Introvert.”