Prince Andrew aide in touch with intelligence services over alleged Chinese spy
The Duke of York’s senior adviser was in contact with intelligence services about an alleged Chinese spy, court documents reveal.
Dominic Hampshire, a close friend of the Duke, provided a witness statement following the exclusion of Yang Tengbo from the UK.
Mr Yang, was excluded on national security grounds in March 2023, unsuccessfully challenged the decision at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission last year.
At a specialist tribunal on Friday, lawyers for Mr Hampshire attempted to argue why some parts of his evidence should remain private. The tribunal heard how he was “assured” by Mr Yang’s lawyers that his evidence would remain confidential and so did not seek his own legal advice before writing the statement.
Appeals were also heard from multiple media organisations for documents that were part of the legal battle.
Adam Wolanski KC, representing various media outlets including The Telegraph, told the tribunal: “This was bewildering, that someone in Mr Hampshire’s position representing Prince Andrew would not have sought legal advice on this issue.”
Mr Wolanski also referenced part of Mr Yang’s own legal submissions, in which his lawyers wrote: “The intelligence services were in contact with Mr Hampshire about H6 [Mr Yang] in 2022, well before the first decision was taken.”
Mr Yang, who is currently in China, has previously said he had “done nothing wrong or unlawful”.
In written submissions, Mr Wolanski said: “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.
“Regardless of this, 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.”
In his own submissions, Mr Hampshire wrote: “I originally provided a witness statement dated May 24 2024, on the understanding it would remain confidential, following the decision by the secretary of state to exclude Mr Yang from the United Kingdom on March 23 2023.
“He sought to overturn the decision and, because a letter from me had been found on his mobile telephone, Mr Yang asked if I would consent to submit a witness statement to provide some context to that letter. I understood that my statement would be provided to the secretary of state only in confidence.”
The Duke’s adviser went on to say: “I was given assurances by Mr Yang’s legal team in the preparation of the statement that the information would remain confidential.
“If there was any question of this being available in the public domain I was not warned of it, and if I had been I would never have agreed to submit a witness statement, much less go into the level of confidential detail which I did in my statement.”
Jonathan Price, for Mr Hampshire, said his client “has not tried to hide his involvement in the underlying facts of this case” and “is now living with the significant adverse consequences of press intrusion”.
The barrister said Mr Hampshire’s witness statement had been withdrawn before the Special Immigration Appeals Commission challenge began in public and was not referred to in open court.
He later added: “He acknowledges he wasn’t given a cast-iron guarantee, but emphases that he accepted the assurances he was given by those lawyers and that is the context in which he came to be so frank in the evidence he gave.”
The tribunal continues.
