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 teenager who murdered his family and wanted to be the worst mass killer the UK has seen had 33 cartridges on him to carry out an attack on his former school, a court has heard.

Nicholas Prosper shot his mother Juliana Falcon, 48, sister Giselle, 13, and shot and stabbed his brother Kyle, 16, at their family home in Luton on 13 September last year.

But the 19-year-old did not plan on stopping there, according to prosecutor Timothy Cray KC, who told Luton Crown Court he had prepared the murders “for months” and wanted to kill at least 30 schoolchildren.

“His planning was cold, deliberate and without sympathy or emotion towards the actual victims or potential victims,” Mr Cray said, speaking at Prosper’s sentencing.

His “main wish”, however, was to “achieve lasting notoriety as a mass killer”, Mr Cray added, specifically to “imitate and even surpass other mass killers around the world”.

“He had conducted in-depth internet research on shootings in the United States of America, Norway, Australia and New Zealand,” he said.

“He understood his plans, if realised, would bring about the greatest number of deaths in a school or other mass shooting in the United Kingdom and possibly even in the United States of America.”

The investigation suggests that the defendant “acted alone”, he added, and “his plans did not arise from any political or ideological cause”.

Prosper had undiagnosed autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the court heard, but he showed an “extreme lack of empathy with others and an extreme lack of remorse” that can’t be explained by ASD alone.

Up until Year 11, the court heard Prosper was a “geeky” and quiet boy with a small group of friends who were into computers, but problems began in sixth form and he wouldn’t engage with mental health support.

‘Extended violent struggle’

Prosper never reached St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, which was three-quarters of a mile from his home, as police arrested him after he escaped to a wooded area.

After he left, officers broke into his family flat at about 5.50am, following a call from a neighbour.

There, the court heard, they found Prosper’s little sister underneath a dining table in the living room, “as if she had been trying to hide there”.

His mother and brother – who was stabbed more than 100 times – were both found in the hallway.

He had planned to kill his family in their sleep, but when his mother realised something was wrong and challenged him, it led to “an extended violent struggle”.

After the horrific and noisy attack on his family members, Prosper knew police would be on their way and so had to leave three hours earlier than he had anticipated.

The teenager was then arrested by a passing police patrol as he walked along a residential road in Luton.

He had hidden the shotgun and cartridges nearby.

Prosper admitted their murders at a hearing last month, as well as purchasing a shotgun without a certificate, possession of a shotgun with intent to endanger life and possession of a kitchen knife in a public place.

Plans long in the making

These killings were planned for more than a year, the court heard, with Prosper managing to buy a shotgun with a fake firearms certificate.

He had put together a black and yellow uniform he wanted to wear for his killing spree, and he had filmed a video of himself holding a plank of wood as a mock gun.

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‘He didn’t seem like he had anything wrong with him’

Prosper had included his own name, a picture and his real address on his fake firearms licence, the court heard.

He had also inserted the signature of a Bedfordshire Police firearms sergeant on 30 August last year.

On the same day, Prosper messaged a private seller who had advertised a shotgun for £450, offering to pay £600 if cartridges were included, Mr Cray said.

The seller agreed to drop the gun off to him on 12 September, the day before the killings, prompting Prosper to respond in a message: “I look forward to meeting you.”

Forensic examiners found Prosper had fired seven cartridges, the first being a test shot into a teddy bear in his bedroom.

Prosper’s step-by-step plan

A couple of months later, a prison officer found the notes in Prosper’s trainer sole after searching his cell on 13 November.

He had written the planned shooting would be “one of the biggest events ever,” Mr Cray said.

“I was right in predicting no-one would’ve called the police had I killed them in their sleep. 3 shots under 30 seconds,” he had written.

“The only known phone call to police that day was made by the b**** at the door as a result of my B**** mother waking them up and it being turned into a long struggle.

“My plan wasn’t ‘stupid’. I was f****** right. MY MOTHER IS A STUPID F****** COW.”

The notes continued: “But why so early? So I’d have time to cannibalise my family, and rape a woman at knife point before the shooting.”

He had also written a step-by-step plan, detailing he would jump two gates and shoot down a glass door while children were together for “prayer/registration”.

He would then “shout that this is a robbery and for everyone to get down”, before shooting two teachers and killing children at Early Years Foundation Stage – the youngest.

That part of the note finished with: “Go to the next classroom. Kill a couple more. Suicide.”

‘Pain will never heal’

His father, who was also dad to Giselle and Kyle, said part of his soul died when he found out what his son had done.

In a statement read out by Mr Cray, Raymond Prosper said: “The pain of our loss will never be healed. This includes my whole family, our lives will never be the same.

“When I heard the horrific news on that day, part of my soul died too. This is a lose-lose situation for us all.”

Sentence will be passed on Wednesday.