Sir Frederick Barclay’s nephews have said they felt it was “necessary and reasonable” to bug the conservatory of the Ritz hotel after becoming concerned that their billionaire uncle’s conduct could potentially damage the family’s business empire, according to documents lodged at the high court.
Barclay, 85, and his daughter, Amanda, are suing three of his twin brother Sir David Barclay’s sons – Alistair, Aidan and Howard, and Aidan’s son Andrew – over 1,000 conversations secretly recorded at the Ritz hotel across several months.
The high court has previously heard that the “elaborate system of covert recording” came to light in January when Alistair Barclay was filmed on CCTV “handling the bug placed in the conservatory at the Ritz”. Last month, Sir Frederick released the footage to the media and claimed the Ritz was sold for “half the market price”, with a discussion about a £1.3bn deal with Saudi Arabia-based Sidra Capital allegedly among the recordings.
The written defence, filed on Monday, claims Alistair began the bugging without the prior knowledge of the other defendants including Aidan Barclay, the chairman of the publisher of the Daily and Sunday Telegraph.
Alistair placed an “off-the-shelf recording device”, which the documents say he bought over the counter from a shop in central London, on 6 November. The defence document claims Alistair resorted to bugging after being “troubled about what seemed to him to be a remarkable change in their conduct posing a significant risk of harm to his brothers Aidan and Howard Barclay, to the group, to their interests (that is, of his brothers and the group) and to his own interests.” By 13 November all the defendants were aware of the bugging operation.
On Monday, Heather Rogers QC said the defendants felt it was “necessary and reasonable” to bug the Ritz to protect the family and its business interests. The Barclay brothers’ empire, which is controlled by Aidan and Howard, also includes the delivery firm Yodel and online retailer Very Group. The 114-year-old Ritz was sold earlier this year by Sir David’s side of the family to a Qatari businessman for about £750m.
The defendants have admitted “the recordings contained private and confidential information of the claimants” and accepted that Sir Fredrick and Amanda were entitled to general damages for breach of confidence, misuse of private information and breach of data protection laws. “The defendants will seek to agree the appropriate damages/compensation with the claimants,” said Rogers. However, they deny their actions caused any loss to the claimants’ economic and/or financial interests.
Sir Frederick and Sir David are no longer beneficiaries of the family trust, and Amanda has been left with a 25% share but no voting power to block any decisions. Aidan and Howard control and run Ellerman Holdings, the holding company for the Barclays’ UK assets.
“As set out clearly in our defence, we do not dispute that the recordings were made and discussed between us,” said a spokesman for the defendants. “The actions we took were the result of serious concerns about aspects of Sir Frederick’s conduct and were taken in the belief that they were necessary and reasonable to protect the Barclay group’s business interests from potential damage.
“We have never made, and never intended to make, any of the recorded information public. We did not conspire to injure any business or financial interest of Sir Frederick or Amanda. That was never our intention and there was no conspiracy as alleged. We regret any distress caused to Sir Frederick and Amanda Barclay, but our intention has always been to act in the best interests of the entire family.”
