Billionaire businessman Frederick Barclay secretly recorded by nephews at the Ritz hotel, court hears

Private meetings by hotel's owner and Daily Telegraph proprietor bugged as part of bitter family row

Sir Frederick Barclay (left) leaves the High Court in London last year during a separate legal wrangle with his estranged wife (PA)

The billionaire owner of The Daily Telegraph and the Ritz hotel was secretly recorded by a bug placed in the hotel’s conservatory by his nephews, the High Court has been told.

Sir Frederick Barclay, who owns a raft of high-profile businesses with his twin brother Sir David Barclay, has brought a claim against three of his brother's sons and his grandson, accusing them of breach of confidence and misuse of private information.

The reclusive tycoon, who with his brother is worth a combined £3bn, alleges Sir David’s three sons Alistair, Aidan and Howard, and Aidan’s son Andrew, secretly recorded conversations between him and his own daughter Amanda Barclay for several months.

Desmond Browne QC, representing Sir Frederick and Ms Barclay, told the court the defendants — the three nephews, Andrew Barclay, and Philip Peters who is on the board of the Barclay businesses — had placed a bug in the Ritz’s conservatory.

Sir Frederick was known to meet with people there while smoking a cigar, he said.

“We all remember Tolstoy saying 'each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way',” Mr Browne said on Monday.

"Here, the children of Sir Frederick and Sir David have been at odds ... concerning the family trusts, and cousin, sadly, has been pitched against cousin."

He told the judge, Mr Justice Warby, the defendants had been making transcripts of private conversations recorded via the bug and sharing them with one another in their struggle over the family businesses.

The “elaborate system of covert recording” only came to light when Alistair Barclay was caught on camera late in the evening of 13 January handling the bug in the conservatory, Mr Browne said.

The judge was asked to make an interim non-disclosure order, which would prevent the defendants from sharing any information gleaned from the recordings.

However, Mr Justice Warby declined to make the order, ruling there was no sign the family members intended to leak any of the detail on Sir Frederick learned through the bug.

He also made the hearing at the High Court in London public, overturning a ban on reporting about case.

The Ritz Hotel in London, where Sir Frederick was allegedly bugged and secretly recorded (PA)

“[The case] stems from the falling-out between elements of the families of Sir Frederick and Sir David Barclay,” the judge said in his ruling.

He said much of the Barclay twins’ businesses were now owned by trusts, whose beneficiaries include their children, and the “vexed litigation” arose from disagreements over the governance and direction of the family businesses.

The information Sir Frederick and Amanda Barclay were seeking to protect included "discussions about potential acquisitions and disposals of business assets", and "personal financial matters including matters relating to the family trusts", the judge added.