Max Mosley company gave £565,000 loan to firm of convicted phone hacker who was asked to 'beef up the propaganda' against the Daily Mail's publisher as a string of private investigators were paid, Prince Harry's High Court privacy case is told
A convicted phone hacker used money from Formula One boss Max Mosley to pay a string of private investigators at the centre of the Prince Harry privacy case, the High Court heard on Wednesday.Graham Johnson said more than £125,000 was paid to other hackers, alleged 'blaggers' and private detectives during his research into claims against the Daily Mail and The Mail On Sunday.He denied, however, the payments were part of a plan to bring legal claims against the newspapers, or that they amounted to paying witnesses for their evidence.But he said Mr Mosley, a prominent privacy campaigner, had later effectively told him to 'beef up the propaganda' against the newspaper group and to restart a campaign against it.A document shown to the court revealed a company linked to Mr Mosley loaned £565,000 to Mr Johnson's publishing company, Yellow Press.Seven public figures including the Duke of Sussex, Sir Elton John and Baroness Doreen Lawrence, mother of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence, allege they were the targets of unlawful information gathering commissioned by the Daily Mail and The Mail On Sunday.Associated Newspapers, publishers of both newspapers, denies its journalists commissioned phone hacking, landline tapping and blagging of private information and described the claims as 'simply untrue' and 'preposterous'. Convicted phone hacker Graham Johnson arriving at the High Court to give testimony. He said Max Mosley had said to him: 'Launch claims against ANL (Associated Newspapers)' The late Max Mosley, boss of Formula One who became a Press campaigner in his later life, and whose company paid £565,000 in a loan to Mr Johnson's publishing firmMr Johnson, 57, a former tabloid journalist, is part of a legal research team working for the claimants.Giving evidence, he said he had paid investigators who are now witnesses in the case as part of his investigative journalism, but denied it amounted to paying witnesses for evidence.Mr Johnson, who was given a two-month suspended prison sentence for phone hacking in 2014, said he worked alongside Dr Evan Harris, a director of pressure group Hacked Off, to uncover alleged unlawful activity by newspapers.He received funding from Hacked Off supporter Hugh Grant, Mr Mosley and from Geoffrey Stunt, the father of socialite James Stunt.Mr Mosley, who died in 2021, campaigned for tighter Press regulation after he successfully sued the now-defunct tabloid the News of the World which wrongly reported he had attended a 'Nazi-themed' sex party.Mr Johnson recalled a series of meetings with his main funder Mr Mosley, including one in 2018 when he said Mr Mosley effectively told him to 'beef up the propaganda' against Associated and to launch legal claims against the newspaper group.Under cross-examination from Antony White KC, for Associated, he agreed he had paid around £75,000 to private detective Gavin Burrows, and £22,000 to convicted phone hacker Glenn Mulcaire, and £13,000 to another convicted hacker, Greg Miskiw.He repeatedly denied the payments amounted to paying witnesses for evidence, or that he had put words into witnesses' mouths to suit his 'preconceived agenda'.The case continues.
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Max Mosley company gave £565,000 loan to firm of convicted phone hacker who was asked to 'beef up the propaganda' against the Daily Mail's publisher as a string of private investigators were paid, Prince Harry's High Court privacy case is told
