Prince Harry’s team ‘sent private investigator death threat’ Key witness asks to give video-link evidence from secret location, owing to safety fears
Prince Harry’s researcher sent death threat, says key witness
A key witness in the Duke of Sussex’s privacy case has claimed he received a “death threat” from the prince’s legal researcher.
Gavin Burrows is hiding abroad and refusing to tell the duke’s lawyers where he will be when he is due to give evidence via video link, the High Court heard on Tuesday.
The private investigator’s alleged confession of voicemail interception and bugging led to the duke, Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon and Sir Elton John suing Associated Newspapers for unlawfully branching their privacy, the court has heard.
Burrows claimed he received a death threat from Graham Johnson, a convicted phone hacker who works for Prince Harry’s legal team. The investigator provided a recording of a voice message, the court heard.
However, Dan Waddell, another legal researcher and the son of the late darts commentator Sid Waddell, claimed “the voice on the recording is that of Gavin Burrows himself”.
Burrows has denied writing a witness statement dated 2021 in which he allegedly admitted carrying out unlawful information gathering for the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday. In a second witness statement, he claimed the first was “forged” and insisted he never worked on behalf of the publisher.
Burrows claimed he had agreed a deal with Johnson, who was convicted of phone hacking while working as a journalist at the Sunday Mirror, to be paid a monthly retainer of £5,000, with a further £25,000 for the rights to his autobiography.
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The court previously heard that Johnson had claimed he had received two threatening calls from Burrows about payments and that the investigator pushed him and verbally threatened him when he visited his home while drunk.
Burrows is scheduled to be called as a witness on behalf of the celebrities next week. Harry’s lawyers are objecting to him giving evidence unless he tells them in confidence in which country he will be.
David Sherborne, Harry’s barrister, said Burrows’ refusal was “holding the court to ransom”, “utterly unorthodox” and that “his fears are utterly spurious”.
Antony White KC, representing Associated Newspapers, said it was routine for courts to hear evidence from abroad and during lockdown he was often involved in cases with video evidence from witnesses “even from a bedsit on the south coast of England”.
After a series of heated exchanges, Mr Justice Nicklin said the situation appeared to be “unprecedented”. He asked whether the Foreign Office could provide advice on whether Burrows giving evidence from the unidentified country could cause diplomatic problems.
The trial continues.