Sir Frederick Barclay releases footage of his nephew ‘caught with spying device’ at Ritz hotel amid family legal feud

Sir Frederick’s lawyers allege ‘commercial espionage on a vast scale’ – claiming bug was used to create 94 hours’ worth of secret recordings

Sir Frederick Barclay has released a video which allegedly shows one of his nephews handling a bugging device placed in The Ritz hotel, claiming it was part of a “deliberate and premeditated invasion” of his privacy.

The 85-year-old businessman is involved in a bitter High Court battle with three of his twin brother Sir David’s sons over 94 hours’ worth of secret recordings. Sir Frederick’s lawyers claim it amounts to “commercial espionage on a vast scale”.

The footage released on Monday morning appears to show Sir Frederick’s nephew Alistair handling a listening device in the hotel conservatory on 13 January. It is claimed the device was used to capture more than 1,000 separate conversations over several months.

In a statement, Sir Frederick said: “I do not want anyone else to go through the awful experience of having their personal and private conversations listened to by scores of strangers.

“It is surely in everyone’s interests for the law to be changed to prevent people, outside the authorities, using sophisticated spying devices that have such an intrusive impact.”

He added: “I am putting this video evidence forward as a graphic demonstration of how easy it is to spy on people in public places and to help bring about legislation to prevent such damaging intrusion.”

Sir Frederick and his daughter Amanda are suing Alistair, Aidan and Howard Barclay, Aidan’s son Andrew and Philip Peters, a director of a number of family companies. The billionaire twins Sir Frederick and Sir David own the Telegraph Media Group and also owned The Ritz at the time of the alleged bugging.

At a High Court hearing earlier in May, the pair’s lawyers claimed that the hotel had been sold for “half the market price” after conversations between Sir Frederick and a Saudi investor, who was offering £1.3bn for the London landmark, were secretly recorded.

Hefin Rees QC, representing Sir Frederick and Amanda, said the recordings “captured over 1,000 separate conversations over a period of months”, including conversations with their lawyers as well as bankers and business people.

He said that “a separate Wi-Fi bug was also used” which was supplied by private investigations firm Quest, which “invoiced for 405 hours of their time to listen and transcribe the recordings”, with transcripts later “shared amongst the defendants and others”.

Screengrab taken from CCTV footage issued by Sir Frederick Barclay (Sir Frederick Barclay / PA Wire)

The court was told that Sir Frederick, who had “placed great trust” in Aidan and Howard Barclay to run his and his brother’s business empire, is “now left to contemplate his nephews’ betrayal”.

Mr Rees said the defendants heard “Sir Frederick’s conversations with Sidra Capital, which at the time had made an initial offer of some £1.3bn for the acquisition of the Ritz hotel”.

He added: “Despite this, the defendants sold the Ritz hotel to another buyer from Qatar at a price that appears to be for half the market price. One is left to speculate why.”

Mr Rees argued that the recordings allowed the defendants “to anticipate the claimants’ every move in advance, plan their business strategy around that, including knowing what legal advice the claimants were seeking and getting at this crucial time when their business and personal relationships had broken down, and the respective interests of the claimants and the defendants were in conflict”.

Sir David Barclay (left) and twin brother Sir Frederick after receiving knighthoods in 2000 (PA)

Heather Rogers QC, representing all five defendants, accepted that “the claimants have been recorded without their consent or knowledge”, adding: “It is correct that the defendants shared some of the transcripts between themselves.”

But Ms Rogers said: “This is not a case in which private information has been obtained and then widely disseminated to the press – it is not that kind of case at all.”

According to the BBC, the high court last week said the video footage allegedly showing Alistair Barclay with the bug “is in the hands of the claimants, and available to them to provide to the media, if they so choose”.

Sir Frederick shared the CCTV footage with the Press Association on Monday morning.

A formal defence to the High Court claim has not yet been filed and a trial is due to take place at a later date.

The Independent has contacted legal representatives of the five defendants for comment on the release of the video footage.