'I'M NOT THETOPSKING - I WAS SLEEPING WITH HIM' Alleged EncoChat drug boss 'comes out' as 'bisexual love rat' during murder conspiracy trial

THESE selfies of alleged drug boss James Harding were sent by a mystery man he was having an "intense sexual affair" with the Old Bailey was sensationally told yesterday.

Harding, 34, alleged to be a "cocaine kingpin", who controlled an operation importing cocaine to the UK that generated £5million in profit in only ten weeks, from a luxury Dubai villa, revealed a "dark secret" as his defence case began.

Harding, who is also on trial for plotting the murder of a drug courier on the encrypted EncroChat phone system, told the court all the incriminating messages were actually sent by his "secret male lover."

After years of insecurity, while growing up, he told the court he felt flattered by "thetopsking" wanting selfies of him on his EncroChat handset, and gladly let him take several during a whirlwind romance that began in late 2019.

The court had earlier heard weeks of prosecution claims that Harding used the handle "thetopsking" to send messages on an encrypted EncroChat phone to associates, to run the drug network, at the same time as planning the murder after an amount of drugs went missing.

The court heard the prosecution was able to identify Harding as the user of the phone and handle from selfies he sent of himself and discussions he had about family occasions and events that were later proved to have happebed.

Harding denies one count of evading a prohibition on the importation of cocaine and another of conspiracy to murder.

Yesterday, May 23 2025, Harding told the court of a "secret" he has long been "too ashamed to admit" and had hoped to "keep private" had it not been for the charges.

Opening the defence case, Clare Montgomery KC, said that the user behind "thetopsking" handle was actually the "biological father of Harding's girlfriend's daughter".

She said: "He is not thetopsking. This is the first time for him to give his evidence and what he has to say.

"Now you are going to see messages from the phone you did not see and how they fit in.

"What they do is they reveal something about James Harding that he has for a long time been too ashamed to admit and wanted to keep private until this case has forced him to reveal his secret life.

"That secret is that he had an intense and sexual relationship with thetopsking."

She said thetopsking was, in fact, the biological father of a daughter that Harding has treated as his own, being the daughter of his partner.

She said that Harding, while having an affair with thetopsking had made bookings for flights and restaurants for him and their lives were entwined in Dubai.

She said none of the messages sent on the EncroChat phone relating to organised crime or the murder conspiracy were sent by Harding, but instead by thetopsking, who was not identified in court, other than being an earlier partner of Harding's girlfriend.

She told the jury Harding was actually a vulnerable person, adding: "You will have to decide whether Harding is a cold-blooded criminal or whether he is a vulnerable person who has been taken advantage of."

The court heard that Harding was born with hemifacial microsomia, a condition which causes the left side of the face to be under-developed, and underwent multiple surgeries to try to correct it.

This also led to poor hearing on the left side and meant he was bullied and insecure, the court heard.

Harding, who grew up in Hampshire, told the court he experimented sexually with another male in his teens, but later supressed the feelings.

He later made money selling "legal highs" but began to have brushes with the law before relocating to Merseyside in 2011 where he met his partner, who had a daughter born in 2010, and began an on-off relationship.

In August 2012 he was arrested and charged with drugs offences and possession of false ID documents, jurors were told.

He pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to prison in October 2013.

While in prison, his girlfriend rekindled her relationship with her daughter's father - the man behind thetopsking account, Harding said.

But, upon his release in 2016, she got back with Harding, and she moved in with him in Alton, Hampshire, with her daughter, the court heard.

But thetopsking, who Harding described as being very rich, wanted to remain involved in his daughter's life, the court heard.

Harding said that in 2019, thetopsking, who he said was "very generous", paid for the three of them to move close to him in a four-bedroom villa at the exclusive The Nest development (above) in Al Barari, Dubai.

He paid all their rent, bills and for a family car, he said, so he could be part of the girl's life.

But, while living as a family unit with the mum and daughter, Harding began an intense affair with thetopsking from 2019, the court was told.

He said he had always found thetopsking, who was referred to as "TK", good-looking and charming.

After they were left alone in TK's villa after a night out in late 2019, things became sexual, he said.

He said: "TK and I were drinking, and drinking quite a lot, and we ended up becoming intimate.

"I wasn't proud of myself at all. I felt disgusted with myself."

When asked by Ms Montgomery if he would reveal "TK's" real name to the jury, Harding said: "No, I can't."

He said it would be too dangerous for him and he could be attacked in prison.

Harding went on to describe why TK had images of him on his EncroChat phone.

He said that during the relationship, TK would often ask for selfies and hand him his phone to take one.

He felt flattered that someone found him so attractive, he told the court.

But, he did not know why TK was then sometimes sending them to his associates, while discussing drug deals, as if it was him.

He had been very annoyed when he found out about one instance but TK had brushed it off as a joke, he said.

The jury was read messages, that had not been introduced in evidence by the prosecution, in which the defence allege that Harding and thetopsking are discussing time they spent together.

The prosecution case is that Harding is thetopsking who revealed much of the former's personal information as his own in messages, including exercise sessions, family events, his prison history and the death of his grandfather.

Harding suggested the messages were confusing because he and thetopsking had discussed the respective deaths of their grandfathers around the same time.

But, he told the court he had no understanding of why TK would have used some of his photos and personal information as if they were his own.

Duncan Atkinson KC, prosecuting, earlier told the court that said Harding had been so assured by the EncroChat encryption, that he sent "pictures of himself to people who clearly knew him' and 'made reference to locations and events" at which he could be shown to have been present.

He said that on May 14 2020, thetopsking messaged that he was staying at the five-star Waldorf hotel in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, for the weekend, and sent an image of the hotel pool area via EncroChat.

Mr Atkinson said: "Enquiries with the Hilton Hotel Group showed that Harding stayed at the Waldorf Astoria in the United Arab Emirates and gave (his) mobile telephone number and produced a UAE identification card.

"During the stay, thetopsking had sent an image of James Harding relaxing on a sun lounger at, of all places, the Waldorf.

"Was thetopsking staying at the same hotel as Harding at the same time, and sending images of Harding at its pool for some unexplained reason or was thetopsking in fact James Harding?"

But, asked about this, Harding said thetopsking was also at the hotel at the same time as him as they were in a group of about 20 people, including his girlfriend and her daughter.

Harding's co-accused Jayes Kharouti, 39, from Epsom, Surrey, who is alleged to be Harding's right-hand man, admitted in November to using two EncroChat handles: "besttops" and "topsybricks".

He also admitted one count of evading a prohibition on the importation of cocaine, but denies any involvement in the murder conspiracy.

The jury was told 9,136 messages were sent via EncroChat between besttops and thetopsking between March and June 2020.

At the time they were unaware French police had infiltrated the encrypted platform in April 2020 and had made historic and ongoing messages available to police across Europe, including the NCA, which investigated and handed other cases to local police forces, including Met Police.

Harding and Kharouti are also alleged to have discussed the plan to shoot dead another drug courier during a "cryp robbery".

The plan developed over time, and on May 25, 2020 there were further messages involving Harding and Kharouti which referred to a hit, locations for it, and the use of a bike and a strap (gun).

Kharouti contacted an associate asking for assistance to source a stolen car and Glock machine gun, before he also offered to source a gunman for the contract killing, which is understood to never have happened, the court heard.

Harding was asked if his girlfriend or her daughter had known about the affair with TK at any stage and he said "no".

He said he did not tell his solicitor until six months after he was extradited to the UK from Geneva in May 2022, because he had hoped the EncroChat evidence would be ruled as inadmissible.

He said: "I never admitted to anyone that I'm bisexual. I did not want it to come out this way."

The trial continues.