A US-based private detective bought a large house in California and has $150,000 in savings “almost entirely” from work he did for the publisher of the Daily Mail, a high court heard.
Daniel Portley-Hanks, also known as “Detective Danno”, said he received about $1m for work done 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 following the 2012 Leveson inquiry into press practices. He said he was told he could continue working for the publisher if he surrendered his private investigator’s license.
Portley-Hanks, 79, gave evidence in a case brought by seven claimants, including Prince Harry, who accused ANL of using unlawful information-gathering methods for decades.
Other claimants are Elton John and his husband, David Furnish, actors Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost, former Liberal Democrat MP Simon Hughes and Stephen Lawrence’s mother, Doreen Lawrence.
Portley-Hanks said he worked for the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday from the early 1990s until 2013. He said he was “the database guy”, saying: “All I need is a name or a phone number and I can find a target’s contact and other private details, usually in minutes.”
In court, Portley-Hanks said she did not believe anything she was doing was illegal “at the time”, but that she now believes she was engaged in illegal activities in the UK, including collecting personal data.
This was challenged by ANL’s legal team, who pointed to his previous public statements saying he had not broken the law.
ANL has denied that its journalists were involved in wrongdoing. It described all allegations of unlawful data collection as “lurid” and “bad”.
Portley-Hanks alleges that the publisher tried to hide its continued use by private investigators by asking her to change her email address, to make it appear that she was a Hollywood reporter.
He also alleged that he was once used as part of a ring to pay a serving police officer for documents related to Jeffrey Epstein. This was denied by ANL.
While Portley-Hanks said she thought she was doing a job related to John, Hurley and Prince Harry, she said she didn’t remember anything specific.
“I remember doing things for the Mail on Sunday and the Daily Mail in relation to Prince Harry,” she said in a written submission. “I know I did illegal things with him, but I can’t remember exactly what.
“I also did the Elton John stuff. That was basically getting contact information for him and his girlfriend or something. I know I did something involving Elizabeth Hurley, but I can’t remember what it was.”
Portley-Hanks, who said he was in and out of prison as a child, was most recently jailed in 2017 in connection with his role in a violent gambling ring.
ANL’s legal team presented emails showing that a Mail editor had sought confirmation that Portley-Hanks had acted lawfully. In court, however, Portley-Hanks said she was also called at the same time and told to “go along with it, even though it’s not true”.
In its written submissions, ANL said all its articles were legally secured. It said the “serious allegations, which are denied in their entirety, are not supported by the available evidence”.
The publisher said some of the journalists named in connection with Portley-Hanks had not heard of him until the case. The legal team also said he had “dubious relevance” to the claimants’ case, given the lack of evidence connecting him to the stories about them.
There is uncertainty as to whether a significant test number will provide evidence. Gavin Burrows, a private investigator who now says a previous claim of illegal activity was a “bogus”, says he is only willing to provide evidence from a secret location.
David Sherborne, acting for the claimants, told the court that this was “highly unorthodox” and that it should not be allowed.
The case is ongoing.