Private investigator Gavin Burrows, who initially served as a vital part of Prince Harry’s £38m trial against the Associated Newspapers Limited (publishers of the Daily Mail on Sunday) has dropped a major bombshell.
For those unversed, his words even made it possible for claimants like Prince Harry, Sir Elton John and Baroness Lawrence, to pursue damages against the publications.
According to GB News, his new testimony comes via a video link, which he used, from an undisclosed overseas location, due to fears of his personal safety. In it he not only reversed his entire testimony that served as the backbone for the case, but also goes as far as to claim the entire 21-page witness statement, from 2021 was pure ‘fabrication’.
He also referenced a former tabloid journalist and convicted phone hacker, Graham Johnson, whom he called a “a conman” and “a serial criminal” as the person responsible for creating the ‘falsehood’.
“I didn't write a statement, I don't recognise anything in the statement, you can tell it's faked. The signature is not my signature. The whole thing is a falsehood,” he’s said to have told the court.
His series of accusations included a number of other adjectives that were laid onto the statement and that includes calling it a “a stitch-up”, filled with “lies”, as well as “complete and utter untruth “and “a thing of fiction.”
He also referenced the celebrities involves in this case and noted, “apart from calling me Jack the Ripper, you've put every possible name in there you could possibly think of. The man went too far. Your little creator of this has gone too far.”
Near the end the claimants' barrister David Sherborne was also challenged, and Mr Burrows called for a forensic analysis on the signature, claiming it had been “cloned”.
The end of his testimony featured cross-questioning by the celebrities’ representative, barrister Sherborne. He asked Mr Burrows about his previous statement, and how he had served as a “trusted representative” until now. To this he said, “I don't think you've got a trusted representative. I've taken him (Mr Johnson) to court and won. He's a proven conman, he's got multiple convictions in court including pouring boiling water over someone's head and scarring them for life. He's a thoroughly not nice person.”