Witness statement by aide to Prince Andrew should be public - court

A witness statement containing apparently "embarrassing or indiscreet" comments by an aide to Prince Andrew about his work should be made public, a tribunal has ruled after a legal challenge led by the Guardian.

- Dan Sabbagh

Although the author of the document, Dominic Hampshire, a close friend of the prince, should have behaved with "discretion" regarding the royal family, that did not outweigh the principles of open justice, yesterday's judgment said.

The 34-paragraph statement was made by Hampshire in support of Yang Tengbo, who became a business partner of the prince but has since been accused of being a Chinese spy, leading to his exclusion from the UK.

"Substantial parts of the witness statement contain material which cannot possibly be said to be confidential, such as information about Mr Hampshire's background or about how he came to know Mr Yang," the tribunal wrote.

It contained "information about the Duke of York which is in the public domain", such as "the negative impact of the Duke's 2019 Newsnight interview" in which he tried to explain the nature of his friendship with the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.