Farndon resident Paul Burrell – former butler to the late Princess Diana – acted 'within the law', according to a spokesman, after it emerged his name was among the so-called Panama Papers.

The Panama Papers are 11.5m files from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca leaked to a German newspaper then shared with other news organisations.

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They reveal the names of many wealthy and well-known individuals who have had offshore dealings through companies.

That does not mean they have done anything illegal.

The Guardian reports that Mr Burrell is a shareholder of an off shore company called Black Dragon Group Ltd based in the British Virgin Islands set up in 2005.

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Along with his wife Maria, the man Diana called ‘her rock’ has held shares in the company since 2008. Before that, they were owned through a Jersey-based trust company.

A spokesman for Mr Burrell, who works day-to-day in his own florist shop at Farndon, said it had simply been a ‘tax management’ arrangement that was ‘within the law’. The accounts had been seen by his accountant and by HM Revenue & Customs.

“It’s efficient tax management and there’s nothing illegal about it,” added the spokesman.

Paul Burrell Flowers in High Street, Farndon

In 2013, Burrell was among many celebrity investors in a tax relief scheme later shut down by the government over tax fraud concerns. There was no suggestion any of them were aware of the alleged fraud. The Crown Prosecution Service said the investors were also victims.

There have been high profile casualties of the Panama Papers episode including Iceland’s prime minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson who stepped down after his offshore finance arrangements were leaked.

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And Labour has accused David Cameron of ‘hypocrisy’ after he revealed he had owned shares in an offshore fund set up by his late father Ian.

Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson attacked the PM for calling people who invested in similar schemes ‘morally wrong’.

On Thursday, the PM said he sold the shares before he entered Number 10 in 2010 and had paid all UK taxes due on profits from the £30,000 sale. He said the firm, Blairmore Holdings, had not been set up to avoid tax.