Eight or nine years ago, Dan Wootton was seen as just another creepy entertainment reporter and gossip columnist in the British tabloid media. He worked his way up from the News of the World, to a brief stint at the Mail, to the Sun’s entertainment gossip column, to breaking some big royal stories – especially in the 2018-19 time frame. Eventually, Wootton was pushed out of the Sun (or did he jump?) and he moved back to the Daily Mail. The Mail gave him a column where he spreads bile, disparages the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, rage-shrieks about all things “woke,” and writes love letters to Prince William. He’s still employed by the Mail, but he also has a side gig as a presenter/commentator on GB News too. He talks about royals, politics and more. For years, there’s been gossip about how Wootton gets certain scoops and just how sleazy he is behind-the-scenes. Well, that gossip has started to go mainstream, following a few viral Twitter-threads. Now Byline Times has put everything together to paint a portrait of Wootton as a serial blackmailer and catfisher.
GB News presenter and MailOnline columnist Dan Wootton hid behind fake online identities to trick and bribe scores of men into revealing compromising sexual material, Byline Times can reveal in the first part of a three-year special investigation. The 40-year-old broadcaster and self-styled voice against ‘woke’ culture – whose show Dan Wootton Tonight is the biggest ratings winner on the UK’s fourth-most watched news channel – targeted journalistic colleagues, friends and members of the public for at least 10 years.
Byline Times has extensive evidence to show that, between June 2008 and 2018, Wootton – who is gay – posed as a fictitious showbusiness agent called “Martin Branning” to offer sums of up to £30,000 “tax free” to his targets, many of whom were heterosexual men.
Among them are a very senior executive at Rupert Murdoch’s News UK alongside at least six other staff at The Sun newspaper – one with close links to News UK CEO Rebekah Brooks – friends, Facebook associates and users of the dating apps Grindr and Gaydar. Two of the targets made criminal complaints to Scotland Yard without knowing the real identity of their tormentor with detectives aware of the activities of Branning – whose name is a portmanteau of EastEnders characters Martin Fowler and Max Branning – since 2019.
Our journalists handed a 28-page dossier of evidence to the Metropolitan Police for investigation on 20 June 2023, however last week criminal claims started to emerge on social media, with the posts rapidly attracting more than 18 million views, causing Wootton to trend on Twitter for several days.
As a result, this newspaper is today publishing some details of our findings. We have identified five co-conspirators, along with a representative group of around a dozen victims. However sources suggest the true figure extends to many, many more men. Byline Times knows the names of those involved but, in order to protect the victims and the course of justice, it will not be revealing them publicly.
During the established period of his activities, Wootton was initially an influential editor for Murdoch’s News of the World before moving, once that paper closed in 2011 after the phone-hacking scandal, to the Daily Mail and then, from 2013, to Britain’s biggest-selling tabloid The Sun, at which he edited its ‘Bizarre’ showbiz column before becoming an associate editor.
Tonight, a representative for Dan Wootton declined to provide Byline Times with an on-the-record response. It is understood that he strongly denies all allegations of criminality. The representative did not clarify, when asked, whether Wootton also denies being Martin Branning.
Byline gave anonymity to some of Wootton’s alleged victims and allowed them to tell their stories, which were all variations on the same theme – random solicitations of money for nude photos, always using the same pseudonym of Martin Branning. “Branning” would solicit photos and videos night and day, text after text, all from an untraceable phone. These victims who spoke to Byline were, by and large, Wootton’s male, heterosexual colleagues at the time of the harassment and solicitation. One victim was catfished by Dan using the profile of a “Maria Joseph,” and that scheme was actually somewhat successful, in that the victim did end up sending photos before he realized Wootton was behind it. Byline also confirms that they gave their dossier on Wootton to the Metropolitan Police.
Byline also summarizes the accusations made by Wootton’s former boyfriend Alex Truby, whose Twitter thread about Wootton went viral last week. Truby put together the “Martin Branning” thing as well, and Truby was also Wootton’s victim – Wootton was tracking Truby’s email and social media and he made Wootton sound emotionally abusive and deeply unstable.
GB News presenter Dan Wootton used multiple fake identities to trick and bribe scores of men into revealing compromising sexual material.
The victims included members of the public, his own colleagues and a senior executive at News UKhttps://t.co/qzux8U19uN
— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) July 17, 2023
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, GB News screencap.
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- 119409, Dan Wootton attends Lorraine’s High Street Fashion Awards in London, England. London, United Kingdom – Wednesday May 21, 2014.,Image: 533821190, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS, DIRECT SALES ONLY UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE IN CAPTION – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: DRP, PacificCoastNews / Avalon
The British media is such a joke.
You can say what you want about my country (or indeed most other countries), but our media doesn’t devote itself to talking shit about one woman that never did anything wrong 24/7.
verything you need to know about the British media can be summed up in the images of 1. Wooton; or 2. women like Camilla Tominey, perched on a ratty couch in her musty bedsit, eating sardines out of a tin while at the same time telling herself she’s so much better than a rich Black woman in California who has everything she (Tominey) ever wanted.
Don’t forget Fitzwilliams too!!!
What you say is not an exaggeration. So, this guy Dan Wootton was involved in the British phone scandal in 2011 yet, a mere two years later, he’s hired by the Daily Mail and The Sun and he’s paid to be an associate editor of anything?!
In what must be a very difficult time for him, I vote we show Dan just as much sensitivity and consideration as he does others.
I couldn’t agree more.
Ditto!!!
I read one of his victim’s statements on Twitter last week, and I wanted to cry. I felt nothing but empathy, sorrow and a greatness of inexplicable sadness for him.
What Wootin did him was simply revolting and inhumane on too many levels to list. I never knew or thought, another human being could be THAT despicable but yes, yes he is. Wooten should be brought up on charges for rape, assault, blackmail and what ever other charge they can prosecute this sniveling excuse for a human being, that he charades’s as.
Who is a thing. A vil despicable thing.
Yes @Belli. D*ckPicsDan needs to be given the same courtesy and right to privacy as he has so often shown to other’s times 1000. It really would be a shame if people tweeted about this for days/months on end using words like completely inappropriate, disgraceful, illegal, etc,..
@BothSidesNow, I don’t know if it’s the same story I read. The one about the young man who completely put it out there about his hard life and his encounter with DW after a concert? That was a hard read.
What’s it gonna take to get this guy off the air? What’s it gonna take to get the mainstream British news media, aside from Byline to cover this? Blackmail is illegal. He’s done more than that. It’s getting absurd. Can he not be charged? Assume people are scared due to any possible kompromat he has.
If someone sues and wins,where he is in any way legally implicated; his employer will resort to firing him especially if the payment runs in the hundreds of million pounds….
I do not expect this to happen. It is tongue and cheek..
British rotas, mainstream media, the UK government and the Royal family are all in bed with Dan Wootton in his despicable criminal acts. There definitely is a stark cover up. They are all scared of Wootton because he knows where the bodies are buried. And they know that if any one of them squealed on him he will immediately and surely take them down with him to hell. He’s the devil incarnate remember.
He and Karma vibe like that. Sucks to suck, Daniel.
I’ve been dreaming of the day he would get his comeuppance. I really hope this sticks. I can’t think of anyone else, besides Piers Morgan and Angela Levin, who delight in behaving so appallingly creepy and disgusting as he does.
Don’t forget Lady C-word. She is proud to be one of them. But at least she doesn’t pretend to be a journalist.
Fake lady colin campbell doesn’t pretend to have deets like a journalist?
R u referring to same b who pretended to have the lowdown on Betty and Phil’s wedding night? She sounds ilke a straight up psycho killer to me.
there’s also Clarkson. no wonder these sociopaths think their behavior is ok. there are so many of them!
this Wooty stuff is next level tho. I love it for him. what a sad, vicious little man. has to playact online to get any attention. he’s pathetic. and, hopefully, done for. come on and roost, chickens!
Weeell, maybe we can place Clarkson about a quarter-step above those other folks. He did do the world a favor and punch Piers Morgan in the face once. And Clarkson, while he might be old and doughy, is not a small man, so it certainly would have hurt.
Sad little man.
Karma has come a’callin’.
Oh Dan, you bad, bad little man.
Let’s hope he finally gets his just desserts.
Caroline Flack
Yup. That is who I immediately thought of and I hope she is looking down and laughing at this clown.
“What’s done in the dark, will be brought to the light” —Johnny Cash/Bible
Couldn’t have happened to a better person. Due to his love of Bullyiam, I believe he must’ve worked closely with Jason Knauf. Now THAT’s a comeuppance I can’t wait to see…
“One by one, I watch them go down, watch them fall like dominos” —Tinashe
Do we love this for him, or what?!
So, so much
Well well well. The little worm has been investigated by byline and they gave the report to the police. Does anyone believe anything will be done about this putz? Will the royal cult save him? My guess is yes he will be saved. He should be prosecuted and eliminated from the press and news shows but I seriously doubt that will happen.
I heard he’s run off to his home country New Zealand since this story started heating up. I wonder if he stays there to try and avoid going to jail.
He was back on GB News last night.
Ugh! Please don’t say he’s planning to come back here? And if he tries I do hope the airline loses his luggage. He may want to run to the far end of the planet, karma will still catch up with him.
New Zealand DEFINITELY has an extradition treaty with the UK, although I suppose they might have done what France did and make it so that they can’t extradite their own citizens to foreign countries.
I’m in his hometown of Lower Hutt, and nobody’s mentioned it, Dan’s comeuppance seems to be completely off the radar, except for a couple of reprints of UK news stories. He did make enemies in NZ during covid, by pushing anti-vax, anti-government, anti border closure right wing propaganda.
Hoping to see him in jail.
One by one karma is coming for them all.
Considering how disgustingly depraved he behaves in public, I am not even remotely surprised that he’s a million times worse in private.
Sad little man indeed.
Wow. I figured the tabloids writers were unethical and ruthless but this surprises me because he was targeting his own peers.
YES! Thank you Kaiser for finally putting this out! I was waiting for this 😊
Karma is a god.
Next on the list would be Piers Morgan.
This man looks as creepy as reports say he is. Amazing how those who live in glass houses always cast so many stones. His victims deserve justice and like the other UK sexual creeps he needs to be denied a public forum. Those folks knew who he was and still tolerated his nastiness because he targeted Meghan and Harry. The gutter media enterprises in the UK are cesspits.
In that pic in the blue blazer he looks like he is about to devour the photographer’s soul.
Dan Wootton was back TV last night like nothing happened. He’s a sacred cow in the British media and they’re not going to turn on one of their own. That KP felt that they had no choice back to leak stories about Harry and Meghan to Wootton says that he has dirt on William.
And that dirt must be awful.
Ugh. The trash is back.
I feel like they all have dirt on William and KP would have leaked to anyone and everyone to chase Meghan away from his prized scapegoat Harry. William doesn’t get a pass.
Well, if he’s been doing this to other people for 10 years – colleagues, senior managers, etc. – there’s no reason to think he hasn’t tried it/ done it with William, his staff and others within the RF circle. Not catfished, necessarily, but some kind of blackmail.
A desperate man will make desperate moves. The heat on Danny boy has got to be making Willy a little nervous, don’t you think? If Danny’s going down, he’ll need a diversion quick. However, I have a sinking feeling that Dan is going to ride this out somehow.
From DW’s Wikipedia page: “ Wootton has been credited with breaking the story about Megxit in The Sun on 8 January 2020, which prompted Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, to issue an announcement within hours, confirming their plans for stepping back from their royal duties.[29] ”
He definitely has dirt on Peggy, and probably other helpful idiots within the RF.
I’m so glad that DW was stupid enough to target fellow employees of various tabloids. You know that when this gains traction, and with libel laws being so stringent in the UK, no one will be there to stop his fall. Couldn’t happen to a more deserving little prick.
Not even gonna bother complaining to Ofcom. They do zip all. That he’s still on TV says all you need to know.
au contraire, I think everybody should complain to Ofcom. this is still a breaking story. hopefully some of those he has victimized will be willing to come forward. seems to me like it’s too big to just go away. he is a vile little man. and he deserves it.
I guess twitter is actually still good for something!
If nothing comes of this? Omg.
He’s a sociopath. And it’s more than likely there are others working for the tabloids. They hide under tabloid rocks, and, if the rock is lifted, they scurry out like insects. Someone needs to do a deep dive into all the British tabloids. It’s a sociopathic culture.
Yes! Murdoch built a playground for a bunch of sociopaths. And they make him richer by the day.
I wonder how many of his victims tried to speak out and were ignored, and for how long. I knew the moment I read the word “Grindr” that it was probably an uphill battle to be taken seriously. It wouldn’t surprise me if it only gained traction when the straight guys said something. There is a very troubling tendency to disregard accusations when they come from queer men/youths, with many authorities seeming to believe that predatory behavior is just part of the “lifestyle”.
Sussex Squader Sarah Data was on Twitter spaces last night taking complete credit for it. And, to be fair, she was making these incendiary accusations 6 weeks ago. I remember because I was shocked she was being so bold. But last night she was spilling all the tea. She had the receipts to back it up.
I’ve been following her. She posted this tweet this morning.
“A credible and prestigious American publication about to publish a massive expose on Dan Wootton: his years of predatory behavior.”
https://twitter.com/SarahData_/status/1681272341551087616?s=20
@Barb Mill, it will be interesting to see if that happens with a credible and prestigious American publication. Would love it. If ends up being Newsweek or Daily Beast, well we know how their slant lays/lies. Neither of those publications should be considered American publications anymore considering their ownership.
So true.
Sarah Data is now saying an American publication is going to be running this story. We’ll see.
Holy effing Moley. This must have been something of an open (semi-open?) secret if he was targeting so many of his colleagues. I’d like to know where the blackmail comes into this – did he want something in return for not revealing the photos and what was it?
It’s probably how he climbed up the ladder from entertainment reporter to royal reporter to getting his GB news gig. Blackmail.
Yes, that makes sense.
That’s gotta be it. He’s hardly Mr. Charisma.
Right! He has no charisma, he has a face made for radio, a voice made for silent movies and basically spews out nonsense. Who did he blow & blackmail to get where he is?
Is anyone shocked that this dirtbag really is that big a dirtbag? I mean this is horrible and I’m glad Byline is exposing him, but he’s always come across as just so……gross. Like I’m not surprised at all that he was doing this behind the scenes for years.
@becks1 unfortunately, living in the U.K., I am at all not surprised that this creep solicited such disgusting and atrocious behaviour. I’m also not and won’t be surprised that people forget that William and Kate endorse people like this for their own gains and used them to abuse Meghan and Harry. The abusers always get away with abuse.
But I really really hope sad little man does not get away with his crime
Exactly. What will surprise me is if there are serious consequences for him. Considering who he targeted I expect him to have enough blackmail to put pressure on people powerful enough to make this go away. It’s already bad enough how those in the UK media protect each other, if he has blackmail material they will fight even harder to protect him.
The thing about blackmail is that it stops working once all the facts come out. Maybe he’s got a couple of secret cards left, like with the RF.
No. Not at all surprised. He epitomizes the phrase, “things you can tell just by looking at him/her”. He looks like what I imagine a chupacabra looks like. A completely vile thing.
Blackmail only works for so long. We are in a place where if you came out and said you were being blackmailed, you are better off saying you are being blackmailed by……fill in the blank.
I remember the Bezos/National Enquirer blackmail story.
There’s this thing with the British Media that reminds of the movie Spotlight. The BM’s “journalists” move back and forth from a Murdoch, Rothermere, Reach Plc. publication quite often. Like how the Catholic church was moving pedo/abusing priests from different parishes. Yes, it’s not unusual for people to change jobs for better pay. It is just so common and frequent with the BM. Has anyone ever done a BM “journalist” tree with their movements and scandals? D*ckPicDan has gone back and forth between Murdoch & Rothermere for the last 20 years? Weird shit.
I saw this story pop up last night and gasped — I was so hoping it would be covered today!! Emotionally abusive and deeply unstable? The police have been looking into his relentless online harassment? Just a matter of time before his entire twisted story comes to light?? He’s right to run home and hide. It’s all about to break wide open.
These are the types of people W&K have in their corner….. yikes! Not the flex they think it is
I knew that man was wicked from the way he constantly went after Meghan and Harry this just shows how truly disgusting he is. Years of secret predatory behavior and he was a hypocrite the entire time. I hope that his victims get justice and the WHOLE truth comes out what Wootton has done.
@girl_ninja I think some people are gonna owe Harry and Meghan an apology. They told how predatory the press is but folks didn’t want to believe them. I hope it all comes out.
Nothing will happen to him. ;this will all go away. He has the tabloid money and power behind him. If the deep pockets of tabloid owners admit to his wrongdoing then they are also pointing the finger at themselves. He has too much dirt on everyone.
As long as his name is attached to this forever I’m fine. Look at Jimmy Saville, nothing “happened “ to him but he’s forever known as a pedo. Some punishments are not as obvious as others.
Nothing “happened” to Saville because he died first. Wootton may not be so lucky.
Agree. Dan Wootton’s name will be attached to being Sex Pest forever in one form or another. As it should be. We can also look at Max Clifford. Oops, Angela Levin seems to have an affinity for loving, liking, defending, protecting and supporting S*x Pests.
Just a reminder: Harry never had a friendly relationship with Levin. Her book/supposed Newsweek interview with him are false. But, thank god she tweeted welcoming Wootton back to GB News. We might have forgotten how much of a f*cking idiot she is along with being friendly with sex pesters.
This explains it all – about why he kept getting these juicy gigs etc.. There has been stories circulating around on him for YEARS and because of the material he had on people in power he got away with it – he will get away with it again as if he doesn’t he will take everyone with him.
I hope the police investigate but am not holding my breath but as always ‘come on karma, get him’.
Nasty little man is a blackmailer? Who’d have guessed? Will his karma catch up with him? With the backing and protection of KP, he just might skate. Especially if the unethical British sh*t press refuse to run the story and the highly suspect Met police sit on their hands, which seems despicable but very likely.
+1. Extremely likely! This is concerning bc if he faces no consequences, like most mediocre sociopathic rich white men, he’ll do even worse things and get away with it until he’s caught, again.
This story, this guy is off the charts. Sociopathic, criminal behavior. Mafia level activities in a protection racket industry of tabloid gossip, innuendos that damage lives for clicks, money and power. I can’t even comprehend the extent of how that man’s actions impacted the mental health and state of his victims and how many unknown victims have attempted or taken their own lives as a result of what he has done.
So sorry for the victims: How many nuclear or extended families has he damaged, the husbands, wives, children, grandparents living in fear of him exposing information deviously gathered by him? We may never know the vast extent of his web because many victims may be fearful of repercussions and thus remain silent.
I hope he faces appropriate consequences for what he has done. He should not be a journalist/reporter making money for inflicting pain and mental anguish on his targets.
I’m gonna focus on the Dan Wootton story for the rest of this month. I’m expecting there will be numerous British tabloid distractions to take our focus away from Dan. Sussex propaganda will be up a notch or two or three. Not gonna be hung up on what they put out on the Sussexes to bait (clickbait) and distract especially on social media.
Yeah, this is the story for me, too.
Dan Rotten shouldn’t be too confident. He has diet on too many people, people in power. Too dangerous to them; and someone may very pushed to take drastic action.
We were also told Epstein had a lot of blackmail and was untouchable. And he was untouchable until he wasn’t.
Karma is coming for him ! I hope all his criminal behavior come to light and he goes to jail and spends a long time there to think about all the crap he has done.
All Meg has to do is sit by her beautiful porch and see all the bodies of her enemies pass ( my mother’s saying when people do her wrong). Now let’s wait for the rest of the rats
You can only get away with sleazy blackmail for so long before it catches up with you and bites you in the azz, Dan Whoten.
Dan Wootton a blackmailer and pervert? No, never! I hope people on Twitter start playing that clip from the Oprah interview where Harry and Meghan talk about how chummy the royal family is with these media freaks. Because you know Dan is not the only one.
When will he be charged with these crimes?
If there is anything I learned from my love of Columbo reruns, it is that blackmail victims sometimes take the law into their own hands.
I clutched all my pearls reading his criminal messiness. Then he has the nerve to come for people minding their own business. Drag him!
I think that this might be the tip of a huge ice berg. It seems as though the media, the Tories and the royals are all in some unholy alliance. There are probably a lot of people at the top of each of these organizations implicated. I’m not hopeful that anybody will be brought to proper justice, but I will hope.
One allegation is wooden paid a reporters’ lover $500 to record them in bed together. The british media makes the case for knowing your friends. A lot of these hacks are just finding the weak leak and using that as an in.
I imagine this is the tipping point vis-a-vis the scum tabloid writers. Wootton has turned on his own kind and, like the mafia, if you rat out any members Omertà will be driving the karma bus. He’s in a whole sh*t pile of trouble and even if he skates, his reputation is utterly ruined. The snake is eating its own tail.
I so hope this is true. Somehow malevolent turds like DW find ways to escape karma.
Wooten needs to be brought to justice.
I believe these victims and I hope they get justice and I also hope rotten Dan rots in hell or prison. Karma be coming for all those who abused and mistreated and harassed meg and Harry . Karma is patiently waiting for all of them .
This would be the perfect time for all of his blackmail victims to stop doing what he says/asks. They can all tell him the same thing: Do you want another victim to go to the police? I suspect there is a big enough victim pool to make this a reality. His only play is to stop blackmailing everyone. If the police do their job, he’ll be charged. Let’s see how effective law enforcement is. This could be a defining moment for them.
Wow, the inside workings of the BRF are just never ending in the backstabbing, plotting, blackmailing, payoffs, who vs. who, which reporters and PR team is working what angle, on and on.
The more we hear about all of the ugliness that is matter of fact day to day dealings…What an ugly, ugly way to live your life.
Diddims Dan was crying on tv saying he’s been set up and that his ex was the one who created this… oh really? Are we meant to feel sorry for him? After the way he went after Carolyn Flack? Or Meghan? I’m not absolving Philip Schofield for an affair with a younger man but was it really Dan Wooten’s place to first try to out him as gay? Then use the affair to bring Schofield down? Dan had knowledge of the affair and should have gone to ITV HR years ago. But no, this guy saves up this information for a day when he can do the most damage to Schofield and the Good Morning show. All because Schofield was promoted over him years ago. William should be very careful as Dan seems to carry a vengeance for years?
Schofield got the guy a job when he was a teen. This really does look like Philip Schofield groomed that guy over a period of YEARS. That’s why everyone is looking at his co-host. Did she know and turned away because Philip had more seniority?
Wootton and his crocodile tears. GMAFB. You notice how in his cry me a river dialogue he never once apologized for his own disgusting behavior to women who didn’t do anything to deserve his incendiary diabolic diatribes.
You reap what you sow.
Down with Wootton.