Witness in Harry privacy case says earlier statement forged

A private investigator whose alleged confession of hacking led to household names, including Prince Harry, suing the publisher of the Daily Mail has claimed his signature on the statement was forged, the High Court in London has heard.

Gavin Burrows, who was initially a witness central to the privacy case's most serious allegations of unlawful information gathering, said a statement dated August 2021 was "prepared by others without my knowledge".

Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) is accused by the group, which includes Prince Harry, Sir Elton John, Liz Hurley and Baroness Doreen Lawrence, of "grave breaches of privacy".

ANL has repeatedly denied the "lurid" and "preposterous" allegations.

The claims include that it hired private investigators to bug homes, to engage in phone-hacking and to dishonestly gather medical and financial information.

In a statement from August 2021, Mr Burrows allegedly claimed to have hacked voicemails, tapped landlines, and accessed financial and medical information at the request of a journalist at the Mail On Sunday.

But on Tuesday, the court heard that in September this year Mr Burrows made a statement to ANL's lawyers claiming the 2021 document was false and that he had not signed it.

"I do not recognise the earlier witness statement of August 16, 2021 and I believe that my signature on that document is a forgery. A lot of it is not written in my type of language," he said.

"Further, the contents of the statement are substantially untrue."

In the recent statement he also said he had not carried out work for the Mail On Sunday or the Daily Mail, apart from in one instance where he said he did a job related to Sir Richard Branson that "did not involve any illegal activity".

Mr Burrows previously retracted his 2021 witness statement in 2023.

The court is now hearing legal arguments about whether Mr Burrows will be called as a witness for the trial, scheduled to take place in January.

David Sherborne, the barrister representing the group, has made an application to call Mr Burrows' evidence as hearsay, while defence lawyer for ANL, Antony White KC, has asked the court to allow him to cross-examine Mr Burrows.

Mr Justice Nicklin said Mr Sherborne could have seven days to decide whether he wanted to apply for a witness summons to call Mr Burrows, and that if Mr Burrows gave evidence that was inconsistent with the evidence they had obtained, then he could apply to treat him as "hostile".

Another pre-trial hearing is expected to take place for the case before the end of 2025.