Private investigator Gavin Burrows appeared before the High Court on Monday as the final witness in the Duke of Sussex's privacy lawsuit against Associated Newspapers Limited, publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday.
The 55-year-old gave evidence via video link from an undisclosed overseas location, citing fears for his personal safety.
Mr Burrows' testimony proved pivotal to the £38m trial, which has run for 10 weeks. His alleged admission of wrongdoing on behalf of the newspaper group had originally prompted the claimants, including Prince Harry, Sir Elton John and Baroness Lawrence, to pursue damages.
However, Ms Burrows has now reversed his position entirely, insisting that a 21-page witness statement dated August 2021 was fabricated.
Private investigator Gavin Burrows claimed his witness statement from 2021 was faked
|BBC
He accused Graham Johnson, a former tabloid journalist and convicted phone hacker, of creating the document, branding him "a conman" and "a serial criminal".
Appearing in Court 76 wearing a black short-sleeved shirt, black tie and large headphones, Mr Burrows sat before a display of yellow flowers while describing his purported confession in stark terms.
"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 told the court.
He characterised the document as "a stitch-up", "lies", "complete and utter untruth" and "a thing of fiction".
The statement had seemingly admitted targeting "hundreds, possibly thousands of people" through voicemail interception, landline tapping and accessing financial and medical records for a Mail on Sunday journalist.
He expressed shock at discovering his words had been transformed into a confession.
Regarding the celebrities named in the confession, Mr Burrows declared: "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."
Prince Harry is leading a case against Associated Newspapers Limited
|PA
He challenged David Sherborne, the claimants' barrister, to conduct forensic analysis on the signature, insisting it had been "cloned".
When Mr Sherborne questioned what Mr Burrows had previously told Mr Johnson, described as the claimants' "trusted representative", the investigator responded forcefully.
"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," Mr Burrows stated.
Mr Sherborne subsequently applied to cross-examine Mr Burrows as a hostile witness, arguing he was "not desirous of telling the truth".
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Mr Justice Nicklin intervened repeatedly as Mr Burrows made wide-ranging allegations, at one point shouting: "Mr Burrows, please stop."
Mr Burrows denied any involvement in landline tapping, vehicle tracking or computer hacking, telling the judge the suggestion was "quite laughable" and that he did not know how to intercept phone lines.
"I don't do things like that. I don't need to," he stated.
David Sherborne is representing the group led by Prince Harry
|PA
He maintained he had never worked for ANL nor received any payments from the publisher.
His knowledge of the celebrity claimants was minimal, he claimed. He had only become aware of Elizabeth Hurley when Hugh Grant was arrested, remarking to the judge: "I thought, 'what a beautiful lady'."
He had not heard of Sadie Frost until the litigation began, and his sole connection to Prince Harry involved asking nightclub contacts about the royal's drug dealer.
Mr Burrows told Mr Sherborne: "You, like myself, were conned. You are still being conned. You've all been seriously misled by your own team."
The trial continues.
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