COURTS

Prince Harry hacking trial: Hacked Off ‘threatened private investigator’

Paul Hawkes said he had never done unlawful work for the newspapers
Paul Hawkes said he had never done unlawful work for the newspapers
TAYFUN SALCI/ZUMA

A private investigator claimed yesterday that he was threatened by a representative of the Hacked Off campaign against the tabloid press.

Paul Hawkes told the High Court in London that he did only lawful work for the media but was accused of hacking the computer of Hugh Grant, the actor who is a founder of Hacked Off.

The Duke of Sussex is one of a number of famous figures suing the publisher of the Daily Mirror over alleged unlawful information-gathering at its titles.

Hawkes, the boss of the London-based investigators Research Associates, said that he was visited in 2017 by Dan Evans, a former reporter at the Sunday Mirror and News of the World who had been convicted of voicemail hacking.

Dan Evans arriving at court
Dan Evans arriving at court
TAYFUN SALCI/ZUMA

“Evans told me that