167: Cash Harry

The episode opens with an update on Prince Harry's case against The Daily Mail for invasion of privacy and phone hacking. The case involves multiple claimants and witnesses, with a particular focus on the controversial issue of payments made to witnesses. These witnesses provided statements about hacking activities that aligned with content they were separately paid to contribute to books, raising questions about the integrity of the evidence.

• Prince Harry and others are currently in court against The Daily Mail for invasion of privacy
• A major issue in the case involves payments made to witnesses on behalf of the claimants
• Witnesses were paid not specifically for witness statements, but for telling stories in books that then appeared in their witness statements
• Graham Johnson, an ex-Sunday Mirror hack and convicted phone hacker, has been publishing these books with help from Hacked Off

Graham Johnson paid substantial sums to various witnesses involved in the case, including convicted phone hackers and private investigators. The payments ranged from £5,000 to £75,000 and were ostensibly for contributions to books about phone hacking. Key figures include Gavin Burrows, who provided contradictory witness statements, Glenn Mulcair who was the first person convicted of phone hacking at News of the World, and several other investigators with questionable backgrounds.

• Gavin Burrows received £75,000 from Graham Johnson and gave conflicting witness statements about hacking for the Daily Mail
• Glenn Mulcair, the first person convicted of phone hacking at News of the World in 2007, was paid £22,000
• Greg Miskew, Mulcair's boss at News of the World, received £12,000
• Steve Whittemore, whose private investigator office was raided in 2005, got £5,000
• Daniel Portley-Hanks, US-based private investigator who claims to have hacked Meghan, received £6,000 for book work plus money for his archive
• Christine Hart, the psychic investigator who claimed to receive messages from Nordics through Stargates, was paid £5,000