Ex-policeman tells court he does not have ‘grudge’ against private investigator

An ex-police officer told the High Court he is not dishonest, as he made claims in relation to a private investigator he was accused of having a “grudge” against.

Jerry Yanover gave evidence on behalf of the Duke of Sussex and a group of household names in the trial of claims of unlawful information gathering brought against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), which publishes the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday.

The publisher strongly denies the allegations and is defending the case brought by Harry, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, Sir Elton John, David Furnish, Liz Hurley, Sadie Frost and Sir Simon Hughes.

Mr Yanover told the court in London that private investigator Gavin Burrows, who has been described as central to the most serious allegations of unlawful information gathering made by the group, “boasted” to him about working for the Daily Mail.

Previously known as Jeremy Young, the witness was jailed for 27 months in 2007 after pleading guilty to conspiring to commit misconduct in public office.

On Thursday, the court heard he ran a detective agency called Active Investigations Services (AIS), which also carried out “illegal” work, while on long-term sick leave from the Metropolitan Police.

In his witness statement, Mr Yanover said: “At first, Burrows, as I will refer to him throughout the rest of my statement, gave us work to do, such as tasking AIS to carry out surveillance on targets connected to his cases.

“But later the roles reversed, and Burrows became a major subcontractor for AIS.

“He had a lot to do with the illegal side of AIS but also wider, too – he supplied to lots of firms like ours.”

He added: “He (Burrows) boasted about working for newspapers, including the Mail.

“He worked for all the papers, and the Mail was at the centre of that. He told me that.”

Mr Yanover also said he knew Mr Burrows was not trustworthy, and that he had “no morals or ethics”.

He added that Mr Burrows had told him that his work for the press consisted of “phone tapping, blagging, gathering bank statements and travel itineraries”.

Antony White KC, for ANL, put it to the witness that he was giving evidence because he had a grudge against Mr Burrows as he believed him to be an informant in connection with his arrest.

Mr Yanover said: “It is not something that I wanted to do because the past is the past.

“But I feel it is important to have everyone held accountable for things I have been accused of and convicted of.”

Referring to Mr Yanover’s conviction, Mr White put it to him that he was a “thoroughly dishonest man”, to which he replied “not at all”.

Mr White asked Mr Yanover: “Does your pointing the finger at Gavin Burrows set any of what you did straight?”

He replied: “I cannot explain why he was not arrested.

“He was the main protagonist in all of our illegal activities, so when I was asked to assist in this matter, yes, part of it was that I feel that he should be held to account.”

Mr White said: “You have harboured a grudge against Mr Burrows for many years, haven’t you?”

Mr Yanover said: “No, that is not the case.”

He later added: “I have no grudge against Mr Burrows, he means nothing to me anymore.

“But I do believe people should be held to account, and as far as I am aware, he never has been.”

The trial before Mr Justice Nicklin is due to conclude on March 31, with a written judgment expected at a later date.