The Royal and VIP executive committee has launched a fresh risk assessment of Harry’s security when he next visits the UK with a decision expected next month.(Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)

A Scots security expert has called for Prince Harry to get his armed protection back when he returns to the UK – because he’s a prime target for terrorists including Russian secret agents.

The Duke of Sussex lost his taxpayer-funded security after stepping back from royal duties in 2020 and has failed in a number of legal bids since then to have it returned.

Yesterday it was revealed that The Royal and VIP executive committee (Ravec), which is overseen by the Home Office , has launched a fresh risk assessment of Harry’s security when he next visits the UK with a decision expected next month.

SAS trained bodyguard Graham Yuill believes that the Russian FSB (Federal Security Service of Russia) see him as a potential target and they could use agents here to target him in the same way as the Novichok poisoning attacks in Salisbury in 2018

Graham believes that the intelligence services such as MI5 or MI6 have received information recently that suggests Prince Harry may be at risk when he returns to the UK.

(Image: Katielee Arrowsmith / SWNS)

The 67-year-old said:”The FSB are now training death squads from around the world including the UK to target high profile people like Prince Harry and also leading UK politicians and high court judges who are also at risk.”Their training is extremely rigorous and takes place within highly secretive locations integrated within military bases in Russia.

“Inventive and spectacular ways of killing people have long been a hallmark of the Russian state’s modus operandi and they are becoming even more determined and devious in their planning. “It looks as though the UK Government is about to make a U-turn on

Prince Harry’s security and you have got to ask yourself why. They obviously know something we don’t know or they are watching people. “Cost should not be an issue here.”

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Graham from Glasgow, was part of the elite 177 Provost Company which provided armed escorts for senior military personnel and politicians in Northern Ireland during the height of the troubles.

At one time he was the personal bodyguard to the commander of the Ulster Defence Regiment and provided protection for high court judges.

Now a private security consultant, Graham believes Harry needs round-the-clock protection from the UK security services, wherever he goes – not just in the UK – because of the threats to his safety.

(Image: Supplied Graham Yuill)

In 2022 the Prince filed a claim for a judicial review against a Home Office decision not to allow him to personally pay for police protection for himself and his family while in the UK.

Graham says no private security in the UK could properly protect Harry because they cannot carry weapons.

He added: “The best protection for Prince Harry will be that provided by the UK security services and police.”

The Duke’s next scheduled visit to the UK in February, when he is set to give evidence in his court case against a newspaper publisher.

(Image: Getty Images)

The decision to reassess the Duke’s security risk followed a letter he wrote to Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, in September calling for a new threat assessment to be carried out. In May this year he lost a High Court battle to reinstate police protection.

Any new review could restore the duke’s entitlement to taxpayer-funded security when he is in the UK.

(Image: SmartFrame/Zuma Press)

At present Prince Harry must inform the Metropolitan Police 30 days in advance of arriving in the country in order to apply for a security review, which is carried out on a case-by-case basis.

The return of his protection could pave the way for his two children to return to the UK for the first time since 2022 when they last saw their grandfather, the King. The duke has argued the UK is not safe for him and his family to visit from their home in California without 24-hour armed protection.

Graham is an author of books on the Novichok poisonings in Salisbury in 2018 and the IRA assassination of King Charles’s great uncle Lord Mountbatten in 1979.

He says the responsibility for guarding Harry and his family would lies with the Metropolitan Police SO14 Royal Protection Group using heavily armed officers both in plain sight and undercover.

Graham also believes revelations from the Duke’s book in 2022 that he killed 25 Taliban fighters while serving in the Army in Afghanistan make him the target of a revenge attack.