‘Striking looking’ woman stood out

“She looked like Nicole Kidman, but more Russian looking with very angular bone features and very bright blonde hair,” he said.

“She was wearing a white or cream dress with a pattern and a sort of black Chanel-type twin set on her top half. She had blonde hair pulled or scraped back into a ponytail. She looked very good, probably early 30s, perhaps a bit older.

“She stood out because she was very striking looking. She was following me.

“I saw her hanging around in the morning in Marylebone. Then, I saw her that evening in Soho when I went to meet the Panorama team.

“There’s a thoroughfare there and I saw her walk past very slowly. I thought: ‘Hang on a minute.’ But, then she was gone. Three hours later, according to Amnesty International research, Pegasus was on my phone.

“What are the chances of that woman being outside a hospital in Marylebone when I am there, then at the same place as me in a hotel just off Shaftesbury Avenue hours later?

“The closest she got to me was three or four metres away.”

Mr Haigh discovered his iPhone had been hacked on August 3 and 4 last when he was contacted later by a journalist reporting on Amnesty International research which showed the military-grade Pegasus spyware had been deployed against his handset, among many others.

Although it is not known who hacked Mr Haigh’s phone, some have speculated that it could be connected to his work on human rights abuses in Dubai.

Pegasus was created by NSO Group Technologies, a company believed to have been set up by former members of Unit 8200, specialists in the Israeli Intelligence Corps.

A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police said: “Devon and Cornwall Police can confirm that Mr Haigh has contacted us in relation to harassment and an allegation of phone hacking. Our officers continue to work with Mr Hague in relation to these matters.”

The sheikh has repeatedly denied hacking and any other wrongdoing.