A private investigator central to the Duke of Sussex’s legal action against the publisher of the Daily Mail has told the high court that his signature on an earlier witness statement was a forgery. Gavin Burrows, linked to allegations of unlawful information gathering made by seven prominent individuals including Elton John and Doreen Lawrence, retracted his alleged confession, saying it was “completely false”.
In a fresh 30-page witness statement dated 25 September 2025 and released on Tuesday, Burrows said he did not recognise the purported 16 August 2021 statement and believed it was “prepared by others”. He said: “I do not recognise the earlier witness statement of 16 August 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.”
The 2021 statement had allegedly claimed that Burrows and his team obtained information by hacking voicemails, tapping landline phones and bugging cars, and that he had worked on behalf of the Mail on Sunday. Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), which denies all allegations of unlawful activity, is defending the claim brought by the group, which also includes David Furnish, Elizabeth Hurley, Sadie Frost and Simon Hughes.
Burrows, who said he had stopped working for newspapers in 2003, explained that he was on heavy painkillers and drinking heavily after a serious assault when approached by Graham Johnson, a former journalist convicted of phone hacking. He said he was introduced to a paralegal, Dan Waddell, who was paid £600 a time for advice, and was told that claims against newspapers were likely to settle out of court because papers did not want publicity or cost. These claims were described to him as a “perfect scam” and a “gravy train”. Burrows added that he had told Johnson “a hundred times that ANL were not one of my clients”.
Burrows was initially a witness for the group but is now the subject of legal arguments over whether he will be called at trial. Antony White KC, for ANL, asked the court to allow cross-examination, while David Sherborne, for the group, applied to call his evidence as hearsay. Mr Justice Nicklin gave Sherborne seven days to decide whether to apply for a witness summons, noting that inconsistent evidence could lead to Burrows being treated as hostile. A further pre-trial hearing is expected before the end of the year.
