Prince Andrew aide asks court to withhold testimony on alleged spy

Adam Wolanski KC, representing the media organisations, said there was an exceptionally strong public interest case to release Mr Hampshire’s account to journalists, along with other documents that remain confidential.

“It is extraordinary that a person in Mr Hampshire’s position, apparently charged with dealing with confidential and sensitive matters on behalf of the Duke of York, did not bother obtaining his own legal advice before agreeing to provide a witness statement to Mr Yang,” said Mr Wolanski in written submissions.

“Mr Hampshire cannot now pray in aid his mystifying and unexplained decision to give a witness statement in this obviously highly contentious matter without seeking his own legal advice.

“He should not be permitted to benefit from his, to put it kindly, lack of common sense and his bad decision to proceed without legal advice.

“The court must instead proceed on the basis that he made this decision with his eyes open, knowing the risk that the evidence may become public.”

Mr Yang became a highly trusted confidante of Prince Andrew following the duke’s interview with the BBC’s Newsnight programme in November 2019, which detailed the Duke’s friendship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The fallout from the interview led to the prince withdrawing from public duties – and the end of his commercially successful Dragons Den-style investor events in the UK and China.

In March 2020, Mr Hampshire told Mr Yang in a letter that he had managed to salvage the prince’s reputation in China.

Seven months later the businessman was authorised to represent the prince in China in a planned $3bn investment fund.

The “Eurasia Fund” scheme aimed to raise cash to invest in Chinese state projects in Africa and the Middle East.

Developing the regions is a cornerstone of the Chinese Communist Party’s plan to expand its diplomatic and financial reach.

The discovery of the scheme, and the fear that the prince was being drawn into a complex Beijing plan to influence him, led the home secretary to ban Mr Yang from the UK.

He has denied all wrongdoing – saying he is a legitimate businessman who has worked for decades to improve links between China and the UK.

Mr Yang came to study in the UK in 2002 and later set up a series of China-related travel and business consultancy firms.

He met the Duke of York in 2014 and later took on a role in the China-based version of Prince Andrew’s “Pitch@Palace” events, in which entrepreneurs sell their ideas to investors.

Siac will rule later on whether further documents from the case will be made public.