Officers arrived at the Closer building in Paris at 10am, with detectives confirming they were looking for information ‘which might lead to the identity’ of the paparazzi responsible.
The investigation was launched by prosecutors in the French capital on Monday, with William and Kate later winning an injunction preventing further distribution of the images.
But Christophe Bigot , a barrister who specialises in media law, immediately questioned the legality of the raid – suggesting that it had solely been authoritised because members of the Royal Family were involved.
Journalistic sources – who include photographers – are strictly protected by French law which was tightened up as recently as two years ago.
"A law of January 2, 2010 protects the confidentiality of sources, as do numerous decisions of the European Court of Human Rights," said Mr Bigot, in an interview with Le Figaro. "In the case of William and Kate, I do not see how a prosecutor could justify a search of Closer."
On Tuesday, judges ordered Closer to hand over all files containing the images to representatives of the couple within 24 hours, but there was no order to name the photographer.
Referring to today’s raid, a police source said : "The aim is to seize any information which might lead to the identity of the photographer." » | Peter Allen | Wednesday, September 19, 2012
