The Japan Times - Elton John accuses UK tabloids publisher of 'abhorrent' privacy breaches

Giving evidence in the joint legal action against Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL) -- the publisher of the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday -- John claimed the papers had unlawfully accessed his and his family's medical records.

Other complainants in the case include Prince Harry, King Charles III's younger son, and actor Liz Hurley.

"I have found The Mail's deliberate invasion into my medical health and medical details surrounding the birth of our son Zachary abhorrent and outside even the most basic standards of human decency," John wrote in a witness statement released as he began testifying by video link.

Wearing a green blazer and purple tie, the 78-year-old musician who has a rocky relationship with British tabloids appeared furious while giving evidence.

He and his husband David Furnish -- who testified on Thursday -- accuse the UK publisher of using unlawful means to gather information used in 10 articles between 2000 and 2015.

ANL has strongly denied claims made against its journalism calling them "lurid" and "preposterous".

Hurley, a friend of the couple, and Prince Harry each took the stand in the first two weeks of the trial.

The seven claimants suing ANL also include actor Sadie Frost, and two other public figures.

The case "contains the most horrendous things in the world that you can ever suffer from a privacy point of view," John told the trial, which is in its third week and expected to last until March.

The "Rocket Man" singer alleged that all three of the family's landlines "were hacked, including the junction box at the end of the road".

"I was incensed," John told the court, adding that he has "never been afraid of fighting my corner... with the British press".

- Not 'fair game' -

Furnish on Thursday accused The Mail of "stealing" and publishing their son Zachary's birth certificate before the couple had received a copy.

The filmmaker, who also manages his musician husband, also accused tabloid of having been "actively homophobic" for years.

An emotional Prince Harry blasted the publisher when he was in the box in January, accusing the tabloids of making his wife Meghan's life "an absolute misery".

ANL has countered that evidence will prove it sourced its stories legitimately and that claims around the use of private investigators were "clutching at straws in the wind".

Lawyer Catrin Evans for the publisher suggested that for some Mail articles mentioned in John and Furnish's case, a "certain amount of the information... had already been put into the public domain".

The publisher's lawyers have also suggested that the claimants' were surrounded by a "leaky" circle of friends that passed on information to the media.

When quizzed about this, the singer replied bluntly: "My friends do not talk to the press, and that's why they are still my friends."

In his written witness statement, John said: "I have devoted my life to my music but this does not mean deeply personal things which I have a right to deal with in private are fair game.

"It has been truly sickening for David and me to see the disclosure in our case, with Zachary as a target when he was just born, with David and me as targets, with me as a target when I was sick and unwell," he said.

H.Hayashi--JT