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A US-based private detective bought a large house in California and had $150,000 in savings “almost entirely” from work he did for the publisher of the Daily Mail, the high court has heard.
Daniel Portley-Hanks, also known as “Detective Danno”, said he received about $1m for work carried out for the Mail on Sunday, another title published by Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL).
Giving evidence, Portley-Hanks said he went bankrupt after the publisher stopped using his services after the 2012 Leveson inquiry into the practices of the press. He said he had been told he could keep working for the publisher only if he gave up his private investigator’s licence.
Portley-Hanks, 79, was giving evidence in a case brought by seven claimants, including Prince Harry, who accuse ANL of using unlawful information gathering techniques over decades.
The other claimants are Elton John and his husband, David Furnish, the actors Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost, the former Liberal Democrat MP Simon Hughes and the mother of Stephen Lawrence, Doreen Lawrence.
Portley-Hanks said he worked for the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday from the early 1990s to around 2013. He said he was “the database guy”, stating: “All I needed was a name or a phone number and I could find a target’s contact and other private details, usually within minutes.”
In court, Portley-Hanks said he did not believe anything he was doing was illegal “at the time”, but that he now believed he had carried out activities that are unlawful in the UK, including the gathering of personal data.
This was challenged by ANL’s legal team, who pointed to his previous public statements stating he had not broken the law.
ANL denies that its journalists engaged in wrongdoing. It has described all of the allegations of unlawful information gathering as “lurid” and “preposterous”.
Portley-Hanks alleged that the publisher tried to conceal its continued use of private investigators by asking him to change his email address, to make it appear that he was a Hollywood reporter.
He also alleged that on one occasion he was used as part of a chain to make a payment to a serving police officer for documents relating to Jeffrey Epstein. This is denied by ANL.
While Portley-Hanks said he thought he carried out some work in relation to John, Hurley and Prince Harry, he said he could not remember anything specific.
“I recall that I did stuff for the Mail on Sunday and Daily Mail in relation to Prince Harry,” he said in a written submission. “I know that I did unlawful stuff on him, but I cannot recall what exactly.
“I also did stuff on Elton John. That was basically getting contact information for him and his boyfriend or significant other. I know that I did something involving Elizabeth Hurley, but I cannot recall what it was.”
Portley-Hanks, who said he was in and out of jail when he was younger, was most recently imprisoned in 2017 in relation to his role with a violent gambling group.
ANL’s legal team presented emails showing that a Mail editor had sought confirmation that Portley-Hanks was acting lawfully. In court, however, Portley-Hanks said he was also called at the same time and told to “agree to this, even though it wasn’t true”.
In its written submissions, ANL said all its articles had been secured by lawful means. It said the “serious allegations, which are denied in their entirety, are unsupported by the available evidence”.
The publisher said some journalists named in relation to Portley-Hanks had not heard of him until the case. Its legal team also said he was of “doubtful relevance” to the claimants’ case, given a lack of evidence connecting him to stories about them.
There is uncertainty over whether a key figure in the trial will give evidence. Gavin Burrows, a private investigator who now states a previous admission of unlawful activity was a “forgery”, has said he is only willing to give evidence from a secret location.
David Sherborne, acting for the claimants, told the court this was “highly unorthodox” and that it should not be allowed.
The case continues.
