Prince Harry’s alleged stalker sat metres behind him at High Court trial
Victoria Region
London: A woman accused of stalking the Duke of Sussex was a stone’s throw away from him on two occasions at the High Court in London last week. Telegram revealed.
Prince Harry was in court to file privacy lawsuit against book’s publisher Daily Mail and testified two days later.
It has now emerged that the stalker, who is understood to have mental health problems, attended two of the four days the duke was in court and was seated a few meters behind him in the public gallery.
In both cases, the woman, who was on a list of known contacts prepared for the Duke by a private intelligence company, was immediately spotted by the private security team, who alerted the court security staff.
A source close to Harry said: “There’s nothing they can do; they’re not the police. It’s a public building and he has a right to be there. He’s obviously worried about the security situation all the time; it’s not ideal.”
The incident coincided with an ongoing review of the security threat to the Duke, ordered by the UK Home Office in December.
Harry spent just over two hours at the podium on Wednesday breaking down and claiming journalists working for Associated Newspapers had “made my wife’s life a complete misery”.
Rejected your friendship mail on sunday A journalist who uses the pseudonym Mr Mischief on Facebook and partied with him in Ibiza has repeatedly insisted his social circle is not “leaky”.
The £38 million ($75 million) trial will continue next week in his absence.
The woman participated in previous events
The duke returned to the United States on Saturday, where he was scheduled to attend the film’s premiere. Cookie Queens With his wife Meghan at the Sundance Film Festival. Both are among the executive producers of the documentary about the Girl Scouts.
The alleged stalker had previously followed Harry to Nigeria and evaded security to enter the “secure area” of a central London hotel where he attended the WellChild Awards last September. Security sources said the woman was also seen with him at the Blast Injury Studies Center in West London two days later.
The decision to give him a full security risk assessment marked a turnaround by the UK government, despite defeat in a high-profile legal challenge against the Home Office over its automatic taxpayer-funded right to protection.
Prince Harry, who lost his appeal, wrote to UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood in the hope she would take a different approach to his predecessor, Yvette Cooper.
‘Obviously he’s always concerned about the security situation; ‘This is not ideal.’
A source close to Prince Harry
Two months later it emerged that he had been granted a security review by the risk management board, the expert body that presents its findings to the royal and VIP executive committee (Ravec), the secretive group responsible for making such decisions.
Duke ‘left in the open’
Neil Basu, the former head of Britain’s counter-terrorism unit, who held various positions with Ravec from 2018 to 2021, believes the duke was exposed without armed guard.
He told London Telegram It “must be incredibly anxiety-provoking” to have a stalker pop up again and again.
Basu said: “Of course there are people who are obsessed, and you can never quite know where that obsession will lead until you assess that person’s state of mind.
“It could be a declaration of undying love and sending roses, or it could be that they mean harm. If someone keeps coming your way… If you were a normal member of the public, you would be absolutely horrified.”
The last time Harry received a full risk assessment was in 2019, when he was still a full-time working member of the royal family. It was later deemed such a target that it was placed in the highest category, level seven out of seven.
Basu said it was “incredibly positive” that the Home Office had decided to review the perceived threat level.
He said: “This is the right thing to do and I cannot see a situation where the threat and risk has diminished in the intervening time that he has been in the UK.
“As one of the most well-known men on the planet, my view is that his threat and risk will be the same as in 2019. It may even have increased due to the publicity around him.”
The former police chief believes the Duke will never win his case against the Home Office. He described it more as an “ethical” decision or simply one based on “common sense.”
Security decision has not been expected for weeks
Whatever Ravec decides, and the review is still ongoing, Basu said it should bring some closure.
He said: “What [the duke] He was fighting for some transparency in the decision-making process. Although he won some of these with the statements he made in court, he still has not made a full statement. This is the beginning of the explanation. “He may not accept the reason, but at least he will be given the reason.”
The security issue is now essentially linked to the duke’s fragile relationship with his father. Last year, he made it clear that he believed King Charles had the power to influence Ravec because his private secretary was on the committee. The prince told the BBC: “I never asked him to intervene; I asked him to step aside and let the experts do their job.”
Buckingham Palace rejected the proposal, insisting that Ravec was completely independent.
Harry also refused to bring his wife and children back to the UK without full police protection, as he feared their lives would be at risk, which would damage their relationship with their grandfather.
The Ravec decision, which was not expected for several weeks, will have a major impact on the duke’s work and personal life over the next two years, with multiple return visits planned ahead of the 2027 Invictus Games in Birmingham. He has made no secret of his desire to bring six-year-old Prince Archie and four-year-old Princess Lilibet back to England.
In her witness statement to the High Court during her legal challenge against the Home Office, she said: “The UK is my home. The UK is at the heart of my children’s heritage and is a place where I want them to feel as at home as the US where they now live.”
“This cannot happen if it is not possible to keep them safe while they are on UK soil. I cannot endanger my wife in this way and, given my experiences in life, I am reluctant to unnecessarily endanger myself either.”
Telegraph, London
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