NEWS – “without comment”
THE ‘PI’ – AND TWO RATHER “UPSET” CLIENTS ?
Prince Harry’s Biggest Showdown Yet Is Imminent
(Trial starting today – Monday January 19, 2026)
Jan 18, 2026
By Jack Royston
Chief Royal Correspondent
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
Prince Harry’s lawsuit alleging phone hacking at the Daily Mail begins a mammoth nine-week trial on Monday, with mega sums in cash as well as reputation on the line.
The Duke of Sussex and co-claimants, including Sir Elton John, actor Elizabeth Hurley and racial justice campaigner Baroness Doreen Lawrence, allege that Associated Newspapers (ANL), publisher of the Mail titles, systematically engaged in “unlawful information gathering” between 1993 and 2011.
Harry will need to testify, his second outing in the witness box at the High Court after a historic spell of live evidence in a similar case he fought and won against Mirror Group Newspapers in December 2023. No date for this has been set yet.
Lawyers for the tabloid sought, unsuccessfully, to have the case thrown out at an early stage in part due to the chaos surrounding the evidence of a private detective, Gavin Burrows.
Burrows was initially said to have turned super-grass, going from working for the Mail to making wide-ranging allegations against it to the prince’s lawyers in a 2021 statement. However, he later said his signature on the statement was forged and denied working for the newspapers.
A newer statement reported by the BBC in November read: “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.”
“Further, the contents of the statement are substantially untrue,” he added, clarifying that his only work for Associated was a story about Virgin tycoon Sir Richard Branson that “did not involve any illegal activity.” ……………
The full article:
NEWS – “without comment”
A private investigator who offered to help the family of missing rugby and reality TV star Levi Davis is accused of taking possession of his iPhone and then failing to return it
Dan Evans
17 January 2026
‘That Phone Could Hold the Truth’: Levi Davis Family Says Investigator Withheld Evidence
A private investigator has been accused of ‘hacking’ and ‘withholding’ an iPhone considered critical to the ongoing investigation into the disappearance of rugby and reality TV star Levi Davis, Byline Times can reveal
Gavin Burrows took the device from Mr Davis’s grieving family after volunteering his help in their search following the former Bath Rugby and X Factor star’s unexplained disappearance in Barcelona in October 2022 – a case that remains one of Europe’s most perplexing of recent times.
But after falling out with family and friends of the missing man, who say Burrows later became “highly abusive” toward them, prompting an official complaint to his trade body, the phone’s whereabouts – and its secrets – remain a mystery three years later.
“That phone could hold the key to why Levi posted on Instagram before he disappeared saying his life was in danger,” Davis’s mother Julie said today, referring to a harrowing 15-minute film her son made alleging he’d been a victim of targeted drug rape and organised blackmail after appearing on reality TV shows in the UK.
Miss Davis added: “This is why the family are desperate to have the iPhone back. Myself and others have repeatedly asked Mr Burrows to return Levi’s device since spring 2023 so it can be properly forensically examined by the police. He told me that he could not release it to me and then went silent. As far as we are concerned he is responsible for withholding potentially critical evidence.” …………
The full article can be read at:
Posted by: Ian (D. Withers)
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