The owner of an army supplies shop in Surrey has told a court she was never paid £4,000 in cash for army boots for Sandhurst cadets, contradicting evidence at the centre of a trial relating to leaks about Prince William to the Sun.
Carmel Bond, who runs HM Supplies in Camberley, Surrey, said she would have remembered if someone came in to her shop with £4,000 in cash and to the best of her memory this did not happen.
She was called as a rebuttal witness at the Old Bailey trial of Sandhurst instructor John Hardy who has been charged with misconduct in public office over leaks to the Sun about Prince William and Prince Harry during their time at Sandhurst.
His wife Claire has been charged with aiding and abetting her husband for funnelling some of the 34 payments from the Sun.
Hardy received £4,000 in cash from the Sun in June 2006 after he persuaded the paper’s royal editor that he could get hold of a picture of Prince William dressed in a bikini at a James Bond fancy dress party.
His wife testified on Thursday that she picked up the money at a Thomas Cook branch and took it to HM Supplies to pay for a consignment of army boots ordered by her husband.
She said her husband had phoned her from Australia where he was on duty and told her he had got the cash from a gambling windfall.
He had instructed her to collect the cash and take to HM Supplies to pay off a bill.
Bond said she was visited by the Metropolitan police earlier this year and asked about a customer called John Hardy or Claire Hardy.
“The name was not known to me,” she said.
“If you received an order for boots to the value of £4,000 would that be from your point of view a large or a small order?” asked prosecutor Michael Parroy QC.
“It would be a large order, yes, we wouldn’t even have the stock for that,” she replied.
“If someone paid you £4,000 in cash would you know about it?”
“I would, yes, I would.”
“To the best of your memory has ever anybody paid you £4,000 in cash for boots?”
“No.”
On Thursday, Claire Hardy testified that she put the £4,000 on the counter of the shop and she recalled a grumpy older woman serving her. She said she got a receipt for the money and did not question why her husband would be spending £4,000 in the shop.
Jurors heard the shop she runs with her husband is close to the entrance of Sandhurst. She said that at the time cadets, who could afford to, would upgrade their boots and buy “lower mountain boots” which cost between £140 and £150 each.
Counsel for John Hardy put it to her that bulk discounts were given to platoons at Sandhurst at her shop.
She replied: “No.”
“We wouldn’t give credit of £4,000 to anybody like that other than an official purchase,” she replied.
“I’m going to suggest to you there was a sergeant at Sandhurst, John Hardy. Three times a year platoons graduates, there was a sergeant at Sandhurst John Hardy who had an arrangement to make a bulk order of boots and those would be supplied to cadets towards the end of their training,” said Simon Csoka QC for Hardy.
“I don’t know about that. I don’t know how that happened,” she replied.
“I’m not suggesting it was done by Sandhurst itself but on an individual basis by Mr Hardy,” said Csoka.
“Well, you’d remember if you saw 40 pair of boots in one go and how the order was processed,” she replied.
Csaka continued: ‘That you would lend Mr Hardy several pairs of boots different sizes so the cadets would know what size would fit them.”
“No.”
“And he would return those and give you an order.”
“No.”
She agreed that there were no records for 2006 to cover all sales and that it was possible she did not remember Claire Hardy coming into the shop because of the passage of time.
Both John Hardy and Claire Hardy deny the charges.
The trial continues on Tuesday.
