Legal documents about Prince Harry’s US visa application have been released – albeit with very heavy redactions.

The released records show the judge concluded in September it wasn’t in the public interest to disclose information about the Duke of Sussex’s immigration status.

He argued that Harry could be subject to “harm in the form of harassment” as well as “unwanted contact” from the media.

So much of the text has been blacked out that there are still many unanswered questions, particularly about whether the prince admitted on his forms he’d taken drugs.

One of the lawyers pushing for the release of information told Sky News they will keep pursuing the case and there will be more proceedings in the “near future”.

Samuel Dewey, attorney for the conservative thinktank The Heritage Foundation, said: “It’s always been a puzzle and we’ve always taken the view it may take some time to get answers… we will use this additional data to keep moving forward.”

The six litigation files which were previously secret have been unsealed after a challenge by The Heritage Foundation.

The thinktank submitted freedom of information requests to establish whether the Duke of Sussex received special dispensation with his visa application.

It follows admissions in Harry’s memoir Spare that he had taken drugs including cannabis, cocaine and psychedelics.

The Heritage Foundation wanted to establish whether this was disclosed in his visa application and whether the US government had followed immigration laws.

Listed as Exhibit 1, one of the files also states that the records contain “very specific private and personal” information, the release of which would be an invasion of personal privacy.

In one document, the singer Sting is also mentioned, but with so many redactions we learn little more. It is almost impossible to decipher the documents. There is mention of a “waiver” but no further details.

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This was never about revealing Prince Harry’s visa application forms, that’s private. But it is about one of the questions he had to answer; whether he’s taken drugs.

We’re no closer to understanding what he wrote. Harry’s team has always insisted he told the truth.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex left the UK in 2020, and are now living in Montecito in California.

In his memoir, Harry wrote how cocaine “didn’t do anything for me”, but that “marijuana is different, that actually really did help me”.

He also wrote about taking magic mushrooms he’d found in a fridge at a party thrown by the Friends star Courtney Cox.

Nile Gardiner, from the Heritage Foundation, posted: “There is zero accountability and transparency in the heavily redacted documents.”

He added that people “have a right to know” about Harry’s responses to his drug taking on his visa application.

The work and pensions secretary has not ruled out making further cuts to the welfare budget despite already unveiling reforms designed to save £5bn.

Liz Kendall said she had made the changes – which will see the eligibility criteria for disability benefits narrowed – because she wanted to “tackle a failing system that is failing the people who depend on benefits”.

Politics live: Kendall ‘cross’ about welfare system

In an interview with Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby, the cabinet minister denied the reforms announced today were just a “drop in the ocean”.

She said she had announced a “substantial package” – and the changes would also be aimed at getting people into work to stop the overall bill ballooning to a projected £76bn by 2030.

Ms Kendall said they would deal with a “broken assessment process”, fix “terrible financial incentives” that force people on to welfare, and would focus benefits “on those in greatest need”.

“It’s providing the largest ever package of employment support,” she told Rigby.

Pressed again on whether she would rule out more savings over the course of this parliament, Ms Kendall replied: “I’m not saying that.

“I am suggesting we talk about the proposals we are actually making, and not those which we aren’t.”

What changes are being made?

Earlier today, Ms Kendall announced a raft of reforms designed to cut the government’s expenditure on long-term sickness and disability benefits for working-age people, which has risen by £20bn since the pandemic.

High on the agenda were personal independence payments (PIP), which provide money for people who have extra care needs or mobility needs as a result of a disability.

People who claim it are awarded points depending on their ability to do certain activities, like washing and preparing food, and this influences how much they will receive.

But Ms Kendall said from November 2026, people will need to score a minimum of four points in at least one activity to qualify for the daily living element of PIP.

Currently, the standard rate is given if people score between eight and 11 points overall, while the enhanced rate applies from 12 points.

However, Ms Kendall said the government would not freeze PIP – as reports had previously suggested – following a backlash from Labour MPs.

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Minister ‘cross’ about welfare system

Asked by Rigby whether she had wanted to go further by freezing PIP, Ms Kendall said she had “never started from a sort of macho, tough position”.

“I’ve never done politics like that,” she said. “This is about real people and real lives.”

Ms Kendall, who ran to be Labour leader in the 2015 leadership race won by Jeremy Corbyn, admitted she was “cross” about the state of the welfare system, which she described as “broken”.

“I’ve seen in my own constituency people written off to a life that is not the life they hoped for themselves, or their children or their families,” she said.

Addressing critics who have derided the changes as morally wrong, Ms Kendall said: “What I think is morally wrong is writing off people who could work.

“What’s morally wrong is looking at a benefit system where we are spending more and more on the costs of failure.

“And if that continues, the welfare state that we created won’t be there for the very people who need it.”

A member of a “professional group of travelling burglars” has been convicted after he broke into the home of Newcastle United striker Alexander Isak and stole jewellery worth £68,000.

Valentino Nikolov, 32, also took the Swedish footballer’s sports car and up to £10,000 in cash when he carried out the raid with three members of his family in April 2024.

Isak, who scored during Newcastle’s victory over Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final at the weekend, was not in the Northumberland home at the time.

Nikolov’s family members – brother Giacomo Nikolov, 28, sister Jela Jovanovic, 43, and her son Charlie Jovanovic, 23 – all admitted conspiracy to burglary.

However, Nikolov, from Birmingham, denied the charge and was found guilty on Tuesday following a trial at Newcastle Crown Court.

His three family members, who all lived in Italy and travelled to the UK to carry out the burglary, will be sentenced at a later date.

Isak noticed bins were moved

Dan Cordey, prosecuting, told jurors how Isak left his home between 4pm and 10pm on 4 April and discovered the break-in when he returned and saw his bins had been moved.

The gang smashed a glass door to enter the property before entering the TV room and carrying out an “untidy search”, Mr Cordey said.

Isak told detectives that he kept cash in bags upstairs, made up of notes of varying denominations as well as coins, and the amount taken was between £5,000 and £10,000.

The 25-year-old striker added that bespoke men’s jewellery from Frost of London worth about £68,000 – made up of bracelets, necklaces and rings – was taken, along with his Audi RS6 estate car.

A member of the public later found the car abandoned and called the police, the jury heard.

The gang also took a safe which had been left by the home’s previous tenant and did not contain anything valuable, Mr Cordey said.

Isak told police he had never used the safe and he had not been able to open it.

Images of raid on ‘doggy cam’

CCTV images of the break-in were recorded on what Mr Cordey described as a “doggy cam”.

The prosecution said: “This was a professional group of travelling burglars.

“It contained one female and three men – all related.

“Two of those men and one female have admitted their part in pleading guilty.”

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Gang used Citroen and Ford motorhome

The thieves had already stolen jewellery and clothes worth more than £1m and the CBE medal belonging to Tyneside businesswoman Helen McArdle, as well as designer goods worth £100,000 from a woman in Whitburn, Sunderland, in the days before breaking into Isak’s home.

The gang arrived in the UK via a ferry from Calais to Dover in a Citroen C3 and a Ford motorhome last March.

They headed to London then drove to the North East a few days later, the court has heard.

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The gang used the Citroen to travel to break-ins and the motorhome was a base where they slept.

Nikolov represented himself and used an Italian interpreter during his trial.

Safet Ramic, who is the 58-year-old father of Valentino Nikolov’s former partner, and who is from Winson Street, Birmingham, was cleared of a single charge of handling stolen goods.