Private Investigator Claims He Got a 'Death Threat' From Prince Harry's Team
Allegation emerges amid fresh clashes over witness testimony in the Duke’s lawsuit against the Daily Mail publisher.
A fresh and unlikely tension has been injected into Prince Harry’s long-running legal battle against the Daily Mail’s publisher, shifting the spotlight from alleged press misconduct to accusations against the plaintiff themselves. A private investigator involved in the Duke of Sussex’s ongoing privacy case has told the court that he received what he described as a 'death threat' from a member of Prince Harry’s team. The allegation came to haunt him as the proceedings continued in the High Court, where Harry is suing Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) over alleged unlawful information gathering.
Per HELLO! The claim was made by Gavin Burrows, a private investigator who is listed as a key witness in the case. Burrows told the court that he was sent a threatening voice message by Graham Johnson, identified as Harry’s legal researcher. Johnson is a former journalist and a convicted phone hacker. Burrows submitted a recording of the alleged message as part of his evidence and is due to testify next week via video link.
However, the allegation was immediately challenged. Another legal researcher, Dan Waddell, disputed Burrows’s account, telling the court that the voice heard in the recording was “that of Gavin Burrows himself.” The claim has further complicated Burrows’s role in the trial, particularly as he is currently abroad and has refused to disclose his location to Prince Harry’s legal team, citing safety concerns.
That refusal prompted a response from Harry’s lawyer, David Sherborne, who accused Burrows of attempting to manipulate the process. Sherborne told the court that Burrows was effectively holding proceedings “to ransom” and argued that he should not be permitted to give evidence under such conditions. He also dismissed the investigator’s fears for his safety, describing them as “utterly spurious.”
ANL’s legal team pushed back strongly. Antony White KC, representing the publisher, said there was 'no dispute' about the importance of Burrows’s evidence and insisted it should proceed as planned. He argued that excluding the witness would be unjustified given the central role his testimony plays in the case. Burrows has already attracted controversy during the trial. In November, he made headlines after claiming that his signature on an earlier witness statement had been forged. He said the document — submitted in 2021 — was “completely false” and included an alleged confession of phone hacking that he denies making. That statement had previously been treated as a key piece of evidence in the proceedings.
Harry is one of several high-profile figures bringing claims against ANL. The group includes Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish, campaigner Baroness Doreen Lawrence, former Liberal Democrat leader Sir Simon Hughes, and actresses Sadie Frost and Elizabeth Hurley. Together, they allege that the publisher carried out or commissioned widespread unlawful activity.
Their claims include accusations that private investigators were hired to place listening devices inside cars, that private records were obtained through “blagging,” and that personal phone conversations were accessed without consent. ANL, which also publishes the Mail on Sunday, has repeatedly and vehemently denied all allegations.
