Prince Harry’s claim that a reporter must have bribed or tricked people for information about him was branded ‘ridiculous’ yesterday.
Mail on Sunday journalist Barbara Jones said it was ‘insane’ to think one could only get details about the Duke of Sussex unlawfully.
In his evidence to a privacy case he has brought against The Mail On Sunday (MoS) and the Daily Mail at the High Court in London, he said he was ‘convinced’ she must have used unlawful information-gathering to discover where he stayed on a visit to Malawi.
He told an aide she kept appearing at secret locations, and was ‘a total nightmare’.
Ms Jones, a war correspondent and former MoS Africa correspondent, said it was ‘a fantasy’ to suggest she had bribed park rangers or ‘blagged’ details by trickery.
On one occasion, she said she walked into a bar in a Malawi national park, asked if anyone had seen Harry, and in minutes was told where he was likely to be staying.
She told the court: ‘Untrue things have been said about me in this very witness box by Prince Harry. I’ve never blagged or bribed anyone.’
Harry is one of seven public figures accusing the MoS and Daily Mail of unlawful information-gathering. Associated Newspapers, which publishes both, denies its journalists hired private detectives to hack voicemails, intercept landline calls and ‘blag’ their private information.
Prince Harry leaving the High Court on the third day of the trial in January 2025
Ms Jones told the court she got information about Harry’s then girlfriend, Chelsy Davy, from Joe Osman, an associate of her brother, who claimed he spoke to Miss Davy in 2005.
In 2004, when their relationship emerged, Ms Jones said she found an address for her mother in the phonebook.
Reporter Heather Briley was asked about her role in trying to discover Miss Davy’s name. In an email to MoS journalist Caroline Graham she wrote: ‘Have spoken to contact at British Airways… and offered $ in return for name. He’s gone off to investigate.’
She said he told her later he could not check BA’s computer as it was confidential.
She thought the name was confirmed by staff at a ranch in Argentina that Miss Davy visited with Harry.
The trial continues.
