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Roberts-Smith's email claims expanded

Margaret ScheikowskiAAP
A friend of Ben Roberts-Smith's former wife may have accessed his email account, a court has heard.
Camera IconA friend of Ben Roberts-Smith's former wife may have accessed his email account, a court has heard. Credit: AAP

A close friend of Ben Roberts-Smith's former wife may have accessed his email account more than 100 times, a judge has been told.

Telstra records showed Danielle Scott or her husband were the users of a BigPond email account, Mr Roberts-Smith's barrister said on Friday.

That account accessed the war hero's password-protected account at least 101 times between January 20, 2020 and May 7, 2021, Arthur Moses SC said in the Federal Court.

He applied to have Ms Scott and her husband joined as parties to the lawsuit in which Mr Roberts-Smith alleges his ex-wife Emma Roberts accessed his account which contained privileged information.

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In a separate case, he is suing The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times over articles from 2018 that he says depict him as a war criminal and a woman abuser, claim he denies.

In the case against his ex-wife, Mr Roberts-Smith alleges she accessed an email account he used for confidential legal correspondence about the defamation case and the Afghanistan inquiry.

He claims she handed over private and confidential communications to the mastheads in preparation for the defamation trial.

Mr Moses said the issues now included how Ms Scott or her husband were able to access the password to his client's account, whether they accessed his emails and for what purpose and whether they passed on any to a third party.

Justice Robert Bromwich reserved his decision on the joinder application.

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