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Royal In Blackmail Plot Took Drugs Court Hears

The Royal at the centre of the alleged blackmail plot was accused of taking drugs, the Old Bailey heard today.

Defendant Ian Strachan - who is charged with blackmailing the royal - made the claim when he tried to sell the story to a tabloid journalist the court heard.

However, the News of the World reporter in question, James Weatherup, decided not to publish it and neither did other newspapers he approached.

Strachan and Sean McGuigan then turned their attentions to blackmailing the married royal, known during the case as Witness A.

The allegations against them centre on eight hours of audio and video recordings of an employee of the Royal, known as Witness D, who was recorded taking drugs and claiming that Witness A had performed a sex act on him.

Ronald Thwaites QC, acting for McGuigan, claimed that Witness D was a "habitual liar" and a "boastful braggart" who "minced around like comedian John Inman."

But Mr Weatherup said that Witness D had appeared "full of joie de vivre, entertaining and prepared to gossip on a regular basis".

The News of the World reporter said when he was initially approached by Strachan about the story it centred on the behaviour of Witness D.

But he added: "As the story developed, we became more interested in A because Ian had said that A took drugs. It's in the tapes."

Later in the trial, Sun reporter Duncan Larcombe told the court how Ian Strachan did a "sales pitch" and spoke about recordings of witness D "bragging" about an incident at a party where a Stringfellows stripper challenged the royal to perform an oral sex act on him on the kitchen floor of a private house party.

"Witness D then talks about how witness A fulfilled that request," Mr Larcombe told the court.

Mr Strachan, of Imperial Wharf, Fulham, south west London, and Mr McGuigan, of Latchmere Road, Battersea, south London, deny the charge that they made "an unwarranted demand with menaces" of £50,000.

Author: Joanne Oatts

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