Royal Watch News

Duchess of York's lawyer attends Turkish hearing

May 5, 2012, 12:01 GMT

Sarah Ferguson

Britain's Duchess of York has claimed she was merely a 'contributor' to the ITV1 documentary which was accused of breaking Turkish law by secretly filming in an orphanage.

Sarah Ferguson - the ex-wife of Prince Andrew and mother of Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie - visited the orphanage near Ankara while making a film for the 'ITV Tonight' show in 2008 and while aTurkish court plans to prosecute her for going 'against the law in acquiring footage and violating privacy' of five children, she says she was just trying to raise awareness of the issue.

Sarah was represented in court yesterday (04.05.12) by her lawyer Cansu Sahin and her spokesman said: 'The court wasn't in possession of the full facts. Her legal team have explained that she didn't produce the documentary, she was just a contributor.

'She was just trying to create more awareness of this problem.'

Britain has refused a request for the duchess' extradition.

Sarah has previously revealed she was stunned by the news as believes she followed every rule.

Her spokesman said: 'The Duchess of York has fully co-operated with both the Turkish and British authorities at all times on this issue. British ministers refused to accede to the further request for legal assistance from Turkey so from a UK perspective we have been told by the Home Office the case is closed.

'We were told the reasons for refusal were that the minister considered that to provide the assistance requested would have been likely to prejudice the sovereignty, security, ordre public [public order] or other essential interests of the United Kingdom.'