Doreen Lawrence ‘was conned into joint privacy claim against the Mail’

Doreen Lawrence was ‘conned’ into joining a legal claim against newspapers, a key witness in the case said on Monday.

Private detective Gavin Burrows insisted statements submitted to the High Court in his name were ‘complete and utter untruth,’ adding that Baroness Lawrence, Prince Harry and other public figures in the case were ‘seriously misled’.

Giving evidence, Mr Burrows, 55, repeatedly denied he had worked for the Daily Mail or The Mail On Sunday.

Baroness Lawrence, 73, and the Duke of Sussex, 41, are among seven public figures involved in a breach of privacy case against the Mail and the MoS.

Associated Newspapers, which publishes both titles, denies its journalists commissioned private detectives to hack voicemails, intercept landline calls, bug vehicles and properties and ‘blag’ their private information.

Lawyers for the claimants, who include Liz Hurley, Sir Elton John and Sadie Frost, submitted purported witness statements from Mr Burrows as part of their case.

In the key statement from 2021, the private detective allegedly said he had targeted ‘hundreds, possibly thousands of people’ for the MoS.

But in a 2023 rebuttal, he said he had never been commissioned by anyone from the Mail or the MoS to conduct any unlawful information gathering, and said the signature on the 2021 statement was ‘a forgery’.

Doreen Lawrence, pictured last month, was ‘conned’ into joining a legal claim against newspapers, a key witness in the case said on Monday

Mr Burrows blamed former tabloid journalist and convicted phone hacker Graham Johnson, a member of the research team working for the claimants.

He branded Mr Johnson ‘a proven conman’ and ‘professional liar’ and said the witness statement submitted in his name was ‘a load of rubbish’.

David Sherborne, for the claimants, suggested Mr Burrows’ claims of forgery and fakery were made after a ‘falling out’ with Mr Johnson over money, adding: ‘This is simply revenge.’

In his opening submissions earlier in the trial, Mr Sherborne had branded the assertions by Mr Burrows as ‘wild and unsubstantiated’. Mr Burrows denied the allegation.

Under cross-examination, he said: ‘Apart from calling me Jack the Ripper you’ve put every possible name in there you could possibly think of.’

In an apparent reference to Mr Johnson, he went on: ‘The man went too far. Your little creator went too far. I believe you’ve been conned.’

Mr Burrows said Mr Johnson had offered him a book deal to publish a memoir, and had paid him to give ‘expert opinion’ about how private detectives worked with newspapers.

He said the former tabloid journalist had been fixated with the Mail and had repeatedly asked him to say that he had carried out work for the newspaper and the MoS, which he had denied.

Mr Burrows said a notation where he wrote: ‘That was definitely me, a hardwire tap of a phone call from Liz [Hurley]’ was intended as a joke with Mr Johnson. He described it as ‘banter’.

The private detective said he was ‘absolutely furious’ when he found a witness statement had been submitted in his name, and that Baroness Lawrence had joined the case after learning of his supposed evidence.

Mr Burrows added: ‘I thought Baroness Lawrence had been conned, so I called the Mail.’

He then received independent legal advice and made a fresh witness statement, denying the earlier allegations, was which was filed to the High Court.

Mr Burrows said Mr Johnson had hoped Associated Newspapers would settle out of court to avoid any negative publicity.

The trial continues.