Harry, the tabloid and the Kiwi who sold the photos

The mystery man who sold raunchy photographs of Prince Harry groping a woman inside a swanky London nightclub is the son of a well-known Kiwi businessman.

In an extraordinary plot twist to the tabloid newspaper saga, the Herald on Sunday can reveal that a London-based New Zealander sold the six Prince Harry photographs to The Sun newspaper for a sum of around £20,000 (NZ$59,000).

Since initially selling the photographs to The Sun, the 27-year-old Kiwi has made a further £50,000 (NZ$147,000) in syndication sales.

The man - who the Herald on Sunday has decided not to identify - claims he found the negatives of Prince Harry and TV presenter Natalie Pinkham by chance when he moved into his new London home.

He claims they had been discarded inside the drawer of an old piece of furniture left behind by the previous owner of the property.

As well as last week's front page picture of Prince Harry groping Pinkham's breast, the New Zealander also supplied pictures for two pages inside the paper.

Despite the Kiwi's claims he innocently stumbled upon the pictures, 28-year-old Pinkham maintains the negatives were stolen when she moved house in May this year.

A friend told the Independent newspaper: "Natalie still has the actual prints. They are under lock and key in her new flat, and the box they were in was sealed. However, it appears that, at some stage during her move, almost all of her negatives were pinched."

Although a firm of professional movers was employed to take her possessions between the two properties, which are less than a mile apart, they are not thought to be implicated in the disappearance of the negatives.

Pinkham has lodged a formal complaint with Fulham police and is planning to file a written report about the theft when she returns to the UK next week.

Lawyers for Pinkham have also launched legal action against the Daily Mail for reprinting the photographs.

Fulham police could not be reached for comment last night, but it is understood the police investigation into how The Sun newspaper obtained the photographs will begin next week - with most of the focus likely to extend around the New Zealander's involvement.

This is the second time a New Zealander has been at the centre of scandal over images of the royals. Thirteen years ago Kiwi gym owner Bryce Taylor landed in court after taking covert photographs of Princess Diana wearing only a leotard and cycling shorts.

This time round, however, it's been Britain's largest-selling tabloid that's been left with egg on its face.

Under the headlines "Dirty Harry" and "Squeezer Geezer", the paper had run a front page and centre spread of Harry, 21, and his elder brother Prince William, 24, during a raucous night out with friends. One of the photos featured Harry, third in line to the British throne, squeezing Pinkham, with a caption saying this "may leave Harry with a little explaining to do with girlfriend Chelsy Davy, who was abroad at the time".

However, it later emerged the photographs were taken three years ago during Pinkman's birthday party.

Suspicions about the snapshots were raised after some royal commentators noted that Prince Harry's hair was longer than what is acceptable in the British army, in which Harry now serves.

Red-faced editors from The Sun were forced to print an apology, admitting the pictures had been taken in 2003 before Prince Harry had begun dating Davy.

Last year Prince Harry was forced to make a public apology after pictures were published of him wearing a Nazi uniform at a native and colonial costume party.