Duke of York's spin doctor stepping down after receiving 'threatening' online abuse

The Duke of York's spin doctor is stepping down from his official role after receiving "deeply offensive and threatening" abuse in the wake of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

Mark Gallagher, who joined Prince Andrew's working group at its creation in December 2019 through his private client business, Riverside, has resigned from the group but will continue to advise the 60-year-old royal in a private capacity.

In an email to staff at his corporate PR agency, Pagefield, seen by The Telegraph, Mr Gallagher wrote: "As you know, I have been the target of some deeply offensive and threatening trolling during the time I have been a member of the Duke's working group.

"I am afraid that this comes with the territory, but was something I was prepared to tolerate because of my commitment to someone who I believe will be fully vindicated in due course.

"However, as you also know, some of these trolls have decided to target Pagefield and members of the Pagefield team. These attacks are totally unjustifiable.

"My principle duty of care will always be towards you, to our wider network of advisers and supporters and – of course – to our brilliant clients. The fact that my work outside of Pagefield is impacting some of you working inside Pagefield is something I cannot accept."

In January, Mr Gallagher was linked to a story suggesting that one of the Duchess of York's employees had sought help from an alleged online troll in an attempt to discredit the Duke's sex accuser, Virginia Roberts Giuffre.

Antonia Marshall contacted Molly Skye Brown to see if she possessed information that might prove that the infamous photograph of Andrew with his arm around Ms Roberts, then 17, was manipulated.

Mr Gallagher also sent a WhatsApp message to Ms Skye Brown "to discuss anything else you think is relevant to this hideous situation".

Formerly ITV’s director of corporate affairs, Mr Gallagher first provided external PR advice to the Royals during the Diamond Jubilee in 2012 and handled the communications for the six-year campaign to exonerate the falsely accused under Operation Midland.