Private investigator denies 'unlawful information gathering' for Associated ... trends now
The High Court today released full witness statements in the case brought by Prince Harry, Baroness Lawrence, Sir Elton John and other celebrities against Associated Newspapers, including the statement by the private investigator who has denounced their allegations, saying they are false.
In his detailed statement Gavin Burrows denies he has ever conducted any unlawful information gathering for the Daily Mail or the Mail on Sunday.
He said: ‘I wish to make clear that I was never instructed or commissioned by anyone at the Mail on Sunday or the Daily Mail to conduct unlawful information gathering on their behalf.’
According to the statements released today, Mr Burrows, the founder of a private investigation firm which has worked for international companies and law firms over the last 30 years, had provided ‘unlawfully obtained information’ to journalists at the Mail on Sunday from 2000 to 2007.
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, arrives at the High Court in London
During the course of his work, it was alleged he was asked to target the actors Hugh Grant and Elizabeth Hurley, Kate Middleton’s mother Carole, former London mayor Ken Livingstone, Labour politician Lord Mandelson and former BBC DJ Simon Bates.
He responded in his signed statement: ‘This is false. I was never instructed or commissioned by the Mail on Sunday or the Daily Mail to conduct unlawful information gathering on their behalf.
‘I was also never asked to target or conduct unlawful information gathering on any of the high-profile individuals listed above by the Mail on Sunday or the Daily Mail. In conclusion, I wish to make clear that I was never instructed or commissioned by anyone at the Mail on Sunday or the Daily Mail to conduct unlawful information gathering on their behalf.’
His statement of truth included a signed declaration that he could be subjected to legal proceedings for contempt of court if he made a false statement.
Mr Burrows gave the witness statement to lawyers for Associated Newspapers earlier this month. In response, solicitors for the claimants submitted an earlier witness statement to the court, which he had provided to them in August 2021, in which he said he had worked for the Mail on Sunday.
His new statement set out detailed denials in response to claims submitted by lawyers for Prince Harry, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish, actress Sadie Frost and Miss Hurley.
PRINCE HARRY
Prince Harry arrives at the High Court today
Prince Harry said he embarked on the case after being told that some private investigators had ‘come forward to admit’ they had gathered information about him unlawfully after allegedly being commissioned by Associated Newspapers.
He said he had been told Mr Burrows had ‘admitted to targeting me and those close to me, such as my former girlfriend Chelsy Davy and my friends Guy Pelly and Natalie Pinkham, on behalf of Associated’.
‘I was told that Mr Burrows had been regularly commissioned by… the Mail on Sunday to unlawfully obtain my private information by methods such as landline tapping, voicemail hacking, blagging, obtaining credit card bills and phone records, and placing a hardwire tap on, for example, Guy’s phone. I was astounded and also very troubled when I learnt this.’
He said the newspapers used the information they received to publish articles about him, including his relationship with a girlfriend while he was still at school at Eton, and that Mr Burrows had admitted targeting the girl and intercepting her parents’ voicemail messages.
In response, Mr Burrows said: ‘I was not instructed or commissioned by the Mail on Sunday or the Daily Mail to conduct unlawful information gathering on Prince Harry or his associates.’
BARONESS LAWRENCE
Baroness Doreen Lawrence arrives at the High Court today
Baroness Doreen Lawrence said she joined the legal action after being informed that Mr Burrows and another private investigator ‘had recently confessed to carrying out a wide range of criminal activities’ instructed by Mail newspapers.
The mother of murder victim Stephen Lawrence said she received a message from ‘a member of the group’ bringing claims against the newspapers, and agreed to a meeting with two
