Prince Harry's ‘unlawful' claims strengthened by new testimony in UK court

Prince Harry, who had been pursuing a lawsuit with seven high-profile claimants against the Daily Mail publisher, received an important update from the UK court.

The Duke of Sussex had given his testimony nearly two weeks ago at the Royal Courts of Justice, stressing on the fact that the information leaks did not come from his circle. The Associated Newspapers Limited is accused of using illicit means such as phone hacking to procure information about the claimants.

During a court hearing, a US private investigator, Dan Portley-Hanks, told the High Court that he “did unlawful stuff” especially in relation to King Charles’s younger son.

“I recall that I did stuff for the Mail On Sunday and Daily Mail in relation to Prince Harry,” he said. “I know that I did unlawful stuff on him but I cannot recall what exactly.”

The private eye, who is commonly known as Detective Danno, had also supplied a written statement that was given as evidence in support of the legal action. He revealed that once his training was completed he quickly got “a lot of work” from two Mail On Sunday journalists, Caroline Graham and Sharon Churcher.

He noted that he was the “database guy” and all he needed was a name or a phone number, and he “could find a target’s contact and other private details, usually within minutes”.

Dan claimed in his statement that “digging into the privacy” of people caused him “a lot of anguish” and he wanted to “do the right thing before I die”.