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The Daily Mail's chief reporter has slammed Prince Harry's claims that a story revealing his declaration of love for his former girlfriend Chelsy Davy was obtained via phone hacking.
Sam Greenhill gave evidence at the High Court in the trial of seven claimants who are taking legal action against Associated Newspaper Limited (ANL), which publishes the Daily Mail, over allegations of unlawful information gathering.
Barrister David Sherborne, who is representing the seven high-profile figures, asked Greenhill about an article from December 2004, titled "How Harry fell in love", which was written by the paper's now-royal editor Rebecca English.
The article revealed that in April of that year, the prince made a love confession as he sat with several others around a campfire in Botswana during his gap year.
On Tuesday, March 17, the court in London heard that the tip was provided by a man who had called the news desk and who happened to be in the same area as Harry.
However, Sherborne suggested that the call "did not take place at all", later claiming that Greenhill had used voicemail interception.
The journalist branded Sherborne's allegations as "absolute b*****ks".
Greenhill, in his written evidence, said the man who gave the tip did not know Harry, but "just happened to be in the same place and recognised Prince Harry".
He stated, "As far as I can remember, he said that a group of them had been sitting around the campfire, and one of the people in the group was Prince Harry."
"He said that Prince Harry was talking about this amazing girl he had met. As I recall, he did not give me the name of the girl."
Moreover, giving evidence last month, Harry said that those at the campfire with him would not have shared the information with journalists.
The trial before Justice Nicklin is due to conclude on March 31, with a written judgement expected at a later date.
