Duke of Sussex court case: key witness statement false

[bluegreygreen]

I looked for another thread on this but didn't see one.

The story is about the case Prince Harry (and 6 others) are bringing against the Daily Mail (Associated Newspapers) for phone hacking. Back in July the claimants were told to reveal any payments that were made to witnesses in exchange for evidence; this seems more serious.

From what I can gather the main witness (Gavin Burrows) in the case was employed by the claimants' team over a couple of years to help research into the phone hacking by different organisations and to track down relevant people. He says he was asked on several occasions if he had worked for the Daily Mail and always denied it, and the first he knew of the current case was when he heard in 2023 that Baroness Lawrence had brought it based on his evidence.

Apparently Burrows wrote a statement at that time (2023) denying the claims and has now written a more detailed statement also denying the claims.

The claimants now don't want to call him as a witness (unsurprisingly) but do want to rely on (some of) his evidence as 'hearsay evidence'.
They also don't want Associated Newspapers to be allowed to call him as a witness.

Telegraph archive link
https://archive.is/YAjNq

I haven't heard before of 'hearsay evidence' being used like this - does anyone know the rules? How can it be tested?

You actually couldn't make this up. This is from a day ago 😂😂😂

Sherborne has been trying to turn them all into public enquiries, I can only assume at Harry's request.

I have a few A list actors, musicians and well known faces as customers. I have never been asked to sign a NDA, I am very careful not to let stuff slip because it happens so easily. Some of them are real name droppers, not in a bad way, it's just the circles they move in. A friend who runs a top recording studio was shocked how short a famous musician was, innocently said in a social situation but no one knew he was was in the country or recording new album, that was out in 48 hours.

Harry is a blabber mouth and a hypocrite!
He has said things in spare that were deliberately harmful and spiteful. I think the press were deplorable before Levinson but they are not short of sources, it's an industry that relies on gossip that is fueled by the public devouring it.

That fox is obviously spreading the word to the London foxes to hide. Stories of the poor driving skills of Harry's security have (allegedly) spread 😁. Stay out of sight away from the streets for the next several weeks!

Yes, MrsLF, and considering Sherborne's already been reminded that's not what the court is for, it brings me back to the question of just what a lawyer's entitled to do "because the client wants it"

On the face of things it looks like a case for saying "No, we're not allowed to do/submit that", but whether this is something Sherborne's prepared to do I obviously can't say

Best case scenario is that Harry loses and others win!

If he loses, is he responsible for $19 million pounds?

I am very careful not to let stuff slip because it happens so easily

I'd suggest that may well be because you have common sense and integrity, @binkie163 - qualities which there's no indication at all of Harry possessing

Prince William earned 23 million pounds from 2024 to 2025, part of which he spent on his housing projects. If I remember correctly, Harry still owes money from the other court cases and now this one. If he loses, he could conceivably have spent close to the equivalent of a year's income from the Duchy of Cornwall on court cases. I honestly think that Harry may be a financial black hole.

Maybe Eton should add a Personal Finances 101 course to their curriculum.

I wonder how Chelsy feels about private matters being aired especially as she is now married with 2 children .

Prince William earned 23 million pounds from 2024 to 2025, part of which he spent on his housing projects. If I remember correctly

Where did you get that from? He didn't use his Duchy payout to build houses. He is however using Duchy profits for these houses, and of course he doesn't have to buy the land to build on, as the Duchy owns the land and the Duchy is covering the construction costs.

I’m surprised that Baroness Lawrence is involved, simply because of the financial risks of losing. I have no idea how strong her case is but it’s a huge gamble. I doubt Sadie Frost has money to waste either. However from what I heard on the news today, she suffered far worse invasions of her privacy than H, such a story about a pregnancy termination. I know the case doesn’t turn on the damage that was done but the methods used, but I do have a lot of sympathy for her.

We could ask the same about countless others who've been associated with Harry and seen their private info used by him when it suits, mylovelygreendress ... the family, other previous "conquests", staff, you name it

Very obviously he doesn't care; he wants what he wants and anyone with the temerity to get in his way is just collateral damage

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2025/12/30/prince-william-annual-salary/87960143007/

Not sure of the exchange rate when the article came out as it fluctuates.

If the Duchy is providing the land and covering the costs with its profits, isn't that money that would have otherwise have gone to William? It seems to me that the charity is undercutting his ultimate profit/personal income. For example, if I donate $1000 to Save the Pigeons, that is money that I could otherwise have invested in my retirement fund.

Share token for th Times article
Prince Harry’s friends were ‘a good source of leaks’, court hears

https://www.thetimes.com/article/8682cd60-8cf5-494e-a312-84658ff560c1?shareToken=9bfb139f48b8562aa73dfc62272371ee

as o there’s are saying it will be difficult to prove that the information came from tapping and not from well placed sources.
Even Natalie Pinkham , Harry’s then girl friend is named as a source.
The story about Sadie Frosts pregnancy should not have been printed but she would have told some people, how can it be proved that they didn’t tell someone’s who told someone else etc;

An interesting few weeks ahead.

Called to account for what?

The Daily Mail bravely named and shamed Stephen Lawrence’s murderers.

I would prefer the tabloids to stop the endless hero/ villain narrative where they build someone up one week and destroy them the next. Celebrities are used to it I'm sure but they do it to people who don't have media training or the resources to defend themselves.

Going after the Lawrence killers was excellent of course, but it doesn't excuse the way the paper is run in general.

She probably to busy being grateful she didn't may Harry to worry about it too much. It's old news to everyone except him.

All of the above

It was interesting that he arrived in a car with just a single security guy - no motorcades, no police outriders and no aides/assistants.... Then was met by a guy that looked like court security and his own solicitor.... and apart from some press nobody seemed interested

If members of the public did not want to read the stories the DM prints it would simply go out of business.

The Duchy of Cornwall is worth £1.5billion. Using land it owns and building 24 houses would not affect Williams payout

One wonders if someone is behind her funding her claim. We will know if/when she loses and does not file for bankruptcy.

I disagree. They could have turned the land into holiday rentals and earned a bundle. Permanently affordable housing with wraparound services isn't going to make them money.

You won't be surprised to read that I disagree with you. Your original post said that William paid for this housing out of his payout that he receives yearly, (£23million) that was not the case.
Nothing to do with holiday rentals 😅
The Duchy itself, worth £1.5billion, paid for the construction of these houses on land they own.
If it affected William's payout it would be absolutely miniscule

I haven't followed every word of every case but my strong impression is that they tend to reveal a lot of sadness about the demise of his relationship with Chelsey.