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Royal blackmail case involves sex, drugs and stripper at sordid party
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
LONDON: The royal, the stripper and the blackmailer.
That's just for starters as a sordid tale involving sex, drugs and the British royal family unfolds in London's Central Criminal Court.
The royal in question cannot be named because of a court order protecting his identity, but the testimony Wednesday sheds some light on the murky dealings between tabloid newspaper reporters, press agents, and people claiming to have damaging information about the rich and famous.
The case involves two men_ Ian Strachan, 31, and Sean McGuigan, 41 — accused of a complicated blackmail plot against the royal.
They relied on a royal aide, who can be identified only as Witness D under court rules, who was tape recorded talking about having an oral sex act performed on him at a party by the royal, referred to in court as Witness A. He said the sex act was performed at the urging of a stripper at the party who dared them to have oral sex.
The two defendants tried in vain to sell the audio and video tapes to British tabloids, witnesses said in court Wednesday. They got some nibbles, but were rejected in the end, tabloid reporters said.
News of the World reporter James Weatherup said he was initially interested in the tapes because they allegedly contained an accusation that the royal had taken drugs.
"It's in the tapes," the reporter said. "There is an allegation of taking drugs. We'd be interested in proving that A took drugs."
Sun reporter Duncan Larcombe also testified that he was approached by Strachan, who provided details about the oral sex allegation.
After extensive discussions, the two newspapers decided independently not to pay for the tapes and pursue the story, apparently because of concerns about whether the allegations could be substantiated. Other newspaper reached the same conclusion after studying the material.
Strachan also approached Max Clifford Associates, Britain's most prominent celebrity public relations agency, to see if a deal with the tabloids could be brokered, said Nicola Philips, a consultant at the agency.
She said she was shown a videotape in which the royal aide was seen snorting a suspicious white powder "which I was told was cocaine."
Philips testified that she told Strachan it was possible the story might be worth 50,000 pounds (US$ 100,000, €63,000) or more if it was solid. But she said she never made an offer to purchase the material.
She said that Strachan seemed to be motivated not only by a desire for payment but also by an intense dislike of the royal aide known as Witness D. She said Strachan believed that D had taken advantage of one of Strachan's friends.
"It was more that D had drugged a friend of his," she said. "It was more a case of a moral revenge. It was personal."
When these attempts to place the story with a tabloid failed, the two men allegedly tried to blackmail the royal by demanding 50,000 pounds (US$100,000; €63,000) to destroy the recordings in which the aide makes the allegations.
The two men deny the charge.
McGuigan's lawyer, Ronald Thwaites, said that Witness D, the royal aide who made the accusations against the royal, was a habitual liar whose word could not be trusted.
"I suggest that he is a boastful braggart who is showing off to the nearest audience or to any audience, camping it up, mincing around, putting everyone down except himself," he said.
Strachan and McGuigan were arrested Sept. 11 in a police sting operation at a London hotel. Their trial is expected to last a month.
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