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Harry seeks accountability, not money, in legal battle

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NGN denies wrongdoing, vows to defend case fully

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Trial to address unlawful information gathering delayed by

hour

(Recasts, adds details from start of hearing in paragraphs 3-4)

By Michael Holden and Sam Tobin

LONDON, Jan 21 (Reuters) - The start of Prince Harry's

court battle against Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper group

was briefly delayed at London's High Court on Tuesday.

Harry and former senior lawmaker Tom Watson are suing News

Group Newspapers over alleged unlawful activities carried out by

journalists and private investigators working for its papers,

the Sun and the defunct News of the World, from 1996 until 2011.

At what was due to be the start of an eight-week trial,

Harry and Watson's lawyer David Sherborne asked the judge,

Timothy Fancourt, for more time.

"I'm sure your lordship can understand why that might be

needed," Sherborne said without elaborating.

The prince has said his mission is not money but to get to

the truth, after other claimants settled cases to avoid the risk

of a multi-million pound legal bill that could be imposed even

if they won in court but had rejected NGN's offer.

"One of the main reasons for seeing this through is

accountability, because I'm the last person that can actually

achieve that," Harry, who is set to appear as a witness himself

in February, said last month.

NGN has paid out hundreds of millions of pounds to victims

of phone-hacking and other unlawful information gathering by the

News of the World, and settled more than 1,300 lawsuits

involving celebrities, politicians, well-known sports figures

and ordinary people who were connected to them or major events.

Harry's legal team has said in earlier court documents that

his older brother Prince William, the heir to the throne, had

settled his own case against NGN in 2020 for "a very large sum

of money".

While Murdoch closed the News of the World in 2011, the

publisher has always rejected claims there was any unlawful

activity at the Sun and says it will fully defend the claims.

The eight-week trial will at first consider "generic issues"

such as the extent of any phone-hacking and unlawful information

gathering at the papers.

Harry's team will argue that senior executives and editors

knew unlawful behaviour was widespread, and allege that they

misled police, provided false statements to a public inquiry

into media ethics held from 2011-12 and instigated a massive

cover-up with the deletion of millions of emails.

"This allegation is wrong, unsustainable, and is strongly

denied," a spokesperson for NGN said. "NGN will be calling a

number of witnesses including technologists, lawyers and senior

staff to defeat the claim."