I’ve done eight years and been convicted more times than I can even remember, says Harry’s witness
A WITNESS for Prince Harry at the High Court admitted yesterday that he had lost count of the occasions he had been convicted of criminal offences.
Private investigator Daniel Portley-Hanks flew in from America to give testimony on behalf of the Duke of Sussex, who is suing Mirror Group Newspapers over alleged hacking which it denies.
He told the court he had been arrested around 50 times and convicted ‘probably more [times] than I can remember’.
He said it was ‘maybe 20’ [convictions] at least, leading to ‘around eight years’ spent in US federal prisons – with his most recent conviction being for ‘extortion and making threats on behalf of a criminal gang’.
Mr Portley-Hanks, who is in his seventies, told the judge that over many years he had supplied phone numbers, addresses and other information about celebrities to British newspapers including those published by the Mirror, The Sun and the Mail groups.
He agreed UK journalists had not necessarily asked him for the information he had provided. He said he had been ‘too lazy’ to remove social security numbers – such as that of Harry’s wife, Meghan – from records of information he had lawfully obtained as a registered American PI, which he had then passed to journalists.
He said it was ‘so much easier not to change the [ search] settings [for each individual request]’.
The Mirror’s barrister, Andrew Green KC, asked: ‘So if a journalist had instructed you to carry out a lawful search, and in producing your report you left in the social security number, because you were too lazy to take it out, the journalist would have received something they had not asked for?’
Mr Portley- Hanks replied: ‘Basically yes.’ Mr Green said: ‘And so the journalist in that situation would be blameless.’
Asked when he decided to come forward to ‘do the right thing’, Mr Portley-Hanks replied: ‘Seven years ago my brother passed away of cancer and I started thinking about eternity. I thought I should do everything I could do to right the wrongs I had done before I passed.’
Under questioning from Mr Green, the investigator – known as Danno – agreed he had been paid by another witness in the case, the convicted phone hacker Graham Johnson, who is also helping Prince Harry. Mr Johnson is a former ‘self- confessed professional liar’ who used to invent stories when he was a reporter for the News of the World in the 1990s and Sunday Mirror in the 2000s.
Mr Johnson insists his days as a ‘faker’ who ‘destroyed people’s lives’ and had ‘no integrity at all’ are over, and he says he now helps victims including the duke to expose criminal behaviour at newspapers.
At the end of his evidence yesterday, Mr Johnson was asked a series of questions by trial judge Mr Justice Fancourt who wanted to know about payments he had made to witnesses in the case.
He had paid a small amount to buy an ‘archive’ from Mr Portley-Hanks, he said.
And Mr Johnson had also paid retired private investigator Steve Whittamore to write a book about his work with British newspapers. Mr Whittamore gave evidence too yesterday.
The court heard that Mr Johnson had also ‘personally’ agreed to fund £5,000 a month to a private investigator called Gavin Burrows, who is not a witness in the case after a falling out with Mr Johnson.
Mr Burrows has since accused him of doctoring evidence, while Mr Johnson has accused Mr Burrows of threatening him, the court heard. In addition, Mr Johnson had struck a £16,000 deal with a private investigator named Christine Hart but they had also fallen out amid extraordinary allegations – including about actor Hugh Grant ‘ordering a burglary’ of her house.
Mr Grant, the Hollywood actor and Press campaigner, is one of numerous well-known figures including Prince Harry who are suing publishers.
Yesterday the court was told Mr Johnson, along with former Lib Dem MP-turned-Press campaigner Dr Evan Harris, had
‘I started thinking about eternity’
‘Accused me of burgling her house’
wanted to buy documents from Miss Hart. But after the two men fell out with Miss Hart, Mr Johnson told the court yesterday: ‘[She] accused me of burgling her house to find these invoices, and she accused Evan Harris.
‘And I think she accused Hugh Grant of ordering a burglary on her house, which of course was not true. After that, relations broke down.’
Mr Johnson spoke about the burglary claims after Mr Justice Fancourt had asked him to describe the circumstances in which his agreement with Miss Hart had come to an end.
The case continues.