UK judge Matthew Nicklin stated that a ruling in Prince Harry's case against Associated Newspapers, the publisher of the Daily Mail, will take some time. The lawsuit alleges widespread unlawful activities, including hacking voicemail messages, bugging landlines and obtaining private information by deception over two decades. The publisher rejected the claimants' case as being "preposterous smears". During the trial, the claimants and their lawyer, David Sherborne, claimed that Associated's journalists often use private investigators to investigate unlawful activities on behalf of their clients.