Harry 'exam cheat' shock

Prince Harry was secretly taped by his Eton teacher to prove her claims that he was an exam cheat, a tribunal heard today.

The hearing listened to the recording of the prince saying he had only done a "tiny, tiny" bit of the coursework for his art A-level.

The disclosure was made at an employment tribunal where teacher Sarah Forsyth, 30, is claiming sex discrimination and unfair dismissal.

The short, poor-quality tape concludes with Harry saying: "It was a tiny, tiny bit. I did about a sentence of it."

This was apparently a reference to his contribution to the coursework which was eventually submitted to the exam board and for which he got a grade B. The prince needed two A-levels to get into Sandhurst.

Miss Forsyth taped Harry on 16 May last year just before he took his A-level and she was questioning him about alleged assistance he was given with his coursework a year earlier.

She admitted she was "very unhappy" at making the recording but felt it was the only way she could prove her head of department condoned cheating, the tribunal heard. She also told the tribunal that it had been difficult to get Harry alone to make the recording because "he was usually with his bodyguards". Her actions were bitterly criticised by Nigel Giffen, QC, representing Eton. He said: "It is a pretty extraordinary way for any teacher to behave towards any pupil. It is a gross breach of trust and almost certainly unlawful."

The tribunal heard that shortly after making the tape Miss Forsyth justified her actions in a letter saying "no one was prepared to listen to my complaint".

The tribunal was told by Miss Forsyth's counsel that when her position at Eton was precarious, and she feared her contract would not be renewed, she was ordered by the head of the art department to prepare material for Prince Harry's A-level coursework.

Robin Allen, said: "She was in an extremely vulnerable position." He said her future teaching career depended on favourable reports from the art department head (Ian Burke ).

Mr Allen said: "She was very scared of him and considered that he had been harassing her in a number of ways."

Mr Allen described the events of spring 2002. He said: "She was asked, direct, by Mr Burke to carry out certain work on the AS project of Prince Harry.

"She was not happy about it but she feared that if she complained about it at the time she would be victimised.

"Her case is that in the course of May and June 2002 Mr Burke, the then head of the department asked her to prepare lines of text to accompany images prepared by Prince Harry for his AS art expressive project. She says she wasn't sure why she was asked to do it but she did it because Mr Burke had requested it. She felt unhappy about it.

"She was concerned because she thought it was unethical and probably constituted cheating and that she thought she was asked to do it because of Prince Harry's position at the time.

"She has since seen the relevant extracts from Prince Harry's coursework and in her witness statement to the tribunal said, 'I can confirm that it was nearly all written by me'."

Mr Allen said that at the time Miss Forsyth feared for her job and didn't know if her contract would be extended.

It comes after Clarence House strongly denied Harry was an exam cheat after the allegations were made at the weekend.

Today senior palace sources close to Prince Harry insisted he had been "stitched-up".

"This is a clear case of entrapment. It is appalling. if you cannot trust your teacher who can you trust. This is a stitch up."

But despite the new evidence Clarence House denied Harry cheated. A palace spokesman said: "This is an ongoing case. We have already said that these are unfounded claims. These allegations were fully investigated by the relevant exam board who found there was no evidence to support them."

Ms Forsyth, who worked at the school for three years, is claiming unfair dismissal after Eton declined to offer her a staff appointment. The school offered her £10,000 as a gratuity to spend on further studies but this was rejected. Her allegations surfaced in the News of the World at the weekend.

The claim is significant because Harry barely scraped the two A-level passes required for of f icer training at Sandhurst.

The behaviour of Miss Forsyth was described as " pretty grubby" today.

The hearing was told that eight days before she was sacked she wrote to her trade union representative saying: "As you have advised I will not mention Prince Harry's AS-level except as a last resort."

Mr Giffen said: "This tells you all that you need to know about the claimant's (Miss Forsyth's) attitude. It shows it is nothing to do with bringing wrongdoing into the open but it is about using the threat of wider disclosure as a way of gaining personal advantage in relation to her employment.

"I don't shrink from saying that it is pretty grubby." The hearing continues.