As several outlets have reported, Dan Wootton lawyered up in a hurry when the first rumors/reports of his “Martin Branning” blackmail scheme first began percolating through social media and the British media. Last week, Byline Times began their multi-part exclusive reporting on Wootton’s years of extortion, blackmail, sexual harassment, bullying and more. Soon after, Wootton’s layers from Mischon de Reya blanketed the UK media with the same statement: that Byline’s reporting is “replete with false allegations about our client, including the grave allegation that our client has committed criminal acts by using illegal means to obtain compromising sexual material from scores of male victims whom he has targeted in a multi-year criminal conspiracy operation.” That hasn’t stopped News UK (The Sun) to call in the lawyers for an investigation into Wootton’s time at the tabloid. It’s become such a major story in the UK that MPs were even asking questions about Wootton when the Sun’s editor, Victoria Newton, spoke at a hearing over reporting standards this week:
The Sun has said it stands by its reporting on Huw Edwards and is continuing to investigate the former employee Dan Wootton, as the tabloid faces scrutiny over its reporting standards and internal culture. The editor, Victoria Newton, told MPs the Sun was a “responsible media organisation which has strict editorial and legal frameworks” to ensure accuracy in its reporting, while also taking allegations about internal misconduct very seriously.
Newton confirmed the external law firm Kingsley Napley had been hired to advise on the investigation [into Wootton]. She said: “On Mr Wootton we are investigating relevant matters raised by reports by Byline Times and the Guardian last week … We take these allegations seriously but we are in no position to comment further and indeed we make no commitment to make any further comment depending on the outcome of our investigation.”
Wootton has retained his nightly show at the rightwing channel GB News, where he has blamed “dark forces” for trying to bring him down. But his lucrative twice-weekly column at MailOnline has not appeared since allegations against him were first made by an ex-boyfriend and Byline Times. The company previously said it was looking into claims against the presenter.
Asked if Wootton was still being paid by MailOnline, a spokesperson said: “There isn’t any update” and ended the call.
If you’re keeping score at home, the Sun (News UK) has hired outside lawyers to conduct an investigation into Wootton’s behavior for a decade at the paper (his tenure ended in 2020). The Mail – which is one of Wootton’s current employers – has not announced any similar investigation, their spokesperson is just saying that the situation is being “looked into.” One could argue that Wootton is much more siloed and contained at the Mail – he’s not in charge of showbiz reporting (like he was at the Sun) nor is he technically part of the royal rota. He’s not covering the daily royal events, he’s just a columnist with sources deep within Kensington Palace.
The Daily Beast also pointed out that the Mail hasn’t published a Wootton column since June 29th (it was about the Sussexes, naturally). To be fair (I know), I’m pretty sure his column was already on hiatus because Wootton was on vacation in the first half of July? That’s why he wasn’t on air at GB News too. Still, he’s been back on air on GB News for a week – surely he’s had time to barf out a new Mail column? Hm.
Photos courtesy of GB News.
“….barf out a column…”
I don’t think his columns come out of that end of his body.
😅
Comment of the week
Indeed!!!!
BRAVA!!! 👏👏👏
All these stories about Wootons typical mode of operation makes me wonder what he’s got on Peggy. It’s got to be pretty bad. Pegging hates his dad and cowmilla but they got him to do the speech at the coronation. I think Peggy’s extracurricular activities must be interesting.
I guess as time goes we will see. You hope he gets fired and charged and thrown in jail but what are the odds of that happening. I’m waiting for more bylines stories to still come.
Call me unoriginal, but I hope he is paraded naked through town while citizens throw excrement at him.
Then I hope each and every one of his victims sues him up one side and down the other.
Byline Times has another article coming out tonight, and say there’s plenty more on the way.
I think what we know so far is just the tip of the iceberg. Really hope his victims find some measure of justice!
It will be interesting to see if the RF step in considering the connection to Christian Jones is bound to come out?
I’ve always felt that Jason Knauff is the equivalent of a hybrid type character of Mark Bolland and Michael Fawcett and will go down in history as William’s achilles heel.
The same shifty, shady modus operandi.
What a mess there will be when inevitably some of this (although I suspect not too much) of this merde blows back on William.
The Daily Mail and every other Murdoch outlet has zero journalistic standards or integrity. They court the likes of Wootton, Clarkson, and Piers Morgan. They will keep platforming him as long as it’s profitable and he can rile up right-wing and MAGA readers, and until the clink of the mail bars close behind him.
This would have been an ideal time for Wootton to spew out a column about the “wokeness” of Barbie. I think DM has put his column on hiatus.
Murdoch would much rather buy another yacht than his spend his hard earned vile, illegal and corrupt money on an investigation, any investigation. All of which could lead to much more damage coming out from the findings.
As for Newton, I don’t know why I am making this claim, but she had better watch her back!! Wooten isn’t going to go without a fight and he will pull anyone that is possibly linked to his criminality, that certainly includes Newton!!! Newton became his arch nemesis as soon as she joined The Scum.
His lawyers can send as many letters as they want, Byline hd substantial enough proof that they handed it over to the police.
@issy your right, but I find the radio silence from all media outlets in the UK very, very strange, just how much dirt does this gutter dweller have on highly placed people. Why are the met still not saying anything? Where are the stories from the other tabloids, they were screaming every day about hew Edwards? Seems the Palace are deeper in Wootons pockets than any of us realised at first. I don’t see how any paper like the sun or mail can say they have hired solicitors for an in dependant investigation when they are the people paying them, AND will we ever get to see the results
Aside from byline, I don’t trust the media on this. My biggest hope is that the evidence byline has given to the police amounts to something. Blackmail is a crime. If he’s charged criminally, the media would have to report on that. Now, do I think he’ll be charged? Sigh. Idk. But I deeply hope so. Byline is doing the good work, the real work, and what the rest should be doing but suspiciously are not.
@ Jais, I suspect that they have no intention of entering into the ring due to their own criminality. They want as little attention as possible as to not to catch anyone’s attention, certainly not of Byline Times or The Guardian as well.
As for charges against Wooten, I don’t know how he could possibly escape justice. Given the evidence that has been released, so far, the mere fact that Wooten had hidden his vast collection of criminal records to support the claims by the victims, I find it highly unlikely that Wooten will walk away unscathed. These are serious charges and crimes!!
Private Eye is reporting that many employees from the Sun are just now realizing that Branning was woo woo. This story is going to grow especially because the Sun employees being extorted by a Sun employee exposes the paper to serious liability.
Lawyer investigations don’t happen because they think there is nothing there. It’s a CYA move which I am sure the DM is doing as well. GB News will have to start their own soon too.
I think I read that the sun is internally offering to provide counseling to the victims, which okay great but this just seems like a way to keep it all hush hush and in-house. Yes to counseling but also to criminal charges!!!! Nail this slimeball to the wall. This shit is dark and he should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
I have read these articles time and time again and I do not fully understand what happened! Did he blackmail these people to get info for the articles he “wrote”? Does he need money badly enough to go to these extremes? Is he just a criminal with a public facing job so that makes it difficult to believe that a person in that position could really be so devious? I guess I’m still trying to find a “reason” and it is very hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that maybe he is just a sociopath?
A little of both. I think he gathered blackmail material so he could climb the ladder into the positions he’s currently holding. He’s also just a sick puppy.
Yeah i think its a mix of reasons.
1. He’s a sociopath who gets pleasure out of the videos, but more importantly forcing people to send them. It’s a power play.
2. Having the videos allows him to blackmail people into helping/promoting him or protecting him from allegations.
3. Once he gets people into a position of ‘owing’ him, he can barter for more info or material on others. It’s like a long chain of blackmail. Who knows how far it goes…
Also just remembered Byline said there were 5 co-conspiritors involved in the blackmail scheme. The police have the names so it only needs one to to turn against the others.
@ UnstrungPearl, well if one of the five co-conspirators were smart, which IS a stretch, they would run down to The Met and make a deal as fast as possible!! The one that agrees to a plea gets the best outcome from the investigation. It would behove them with their final judgment.
Though we are talking about those in high, protected places that believe that they are protected, and will be by the publication owners……
(can’t wait for the reality to hit them where they deserve it as NONE of these titans of deception will protect them, they will be treated as the trash that they are.)
I wonder if Wooten had a ring of perverts that he sold the videos to–cash only. That line that the victim would receive payment in the form of a roll of sweaty bills several weeks later sounds like Wooten needed time to collect the cash. Wooten would have all the contact info for the pervs that paid, and that list could be explosive and wide-ranging. That’s why he’s still being protected.
unstrungpearl & snuffles thanks!!
UK courts operate a bit differently as far as plea deals go. If someone pleads guilty right away, the judge has the authority to reduce the sentence, but there’s not typically the level of negotiation that goes in in the US.
The Sun is a joke, they have paid over a million £s to co-workers of Dan for his abuse and bullying, so why the need for outside lawyers, when they could open the the non-disclosures they got the workers to sign.
At By Line the people are coming out of the woodwork to spill about Dan.
Wotton is hanging on by a thread despite his bravado. It’s really bad when MPs are asking questions. And it’s starting to seep into US media. When CNN reports on it (because of his connection to his slagging on the Sussexes) things have reached critical mass.
I really hope the US media report on Don Wootton’s criminality. CNN should cover this for global coverage.
I hope this serves as a lesson going forward for those who dunk on the Sussexes for clout.
The realisation that the ill-gotten fame can also end their careers with one wrong footed move.
The issue that has emerged goes beyond mere legal concern. Whether or not Wootton’s acts were illegal, it is inconceivable for a man who has committed 100 morally objectionable acts to appear on television or write articles as a Major Judge of others.
Well said @ Karla!! It certainly places an enormous spotlight onto the machinations of the Britshidmedia and their operations of deception, illegal actions as well as placing a spotlight of how untrustworthy, corrupt and dishonest they ALL are by association.
Bring it ALL down Byline Times!!! We are eager and supportive of every rock you look under and every stone you turn over.
But isn’t that always the way and the very reason that the likes of Murdoch and his lackey Rebecca Brooks choose these people to do their bidding.
Because essentially they’re already compromised and therefore more pliable, in the same way that William is pliable to the right wing press by virtue of his gardening and pegging activities and even now the expose’s of those he chooses to associate with.
This maniac has got to be exposed. Almost all British newspapers are radio silent about the Wootton scandal. He most likely have dirt on all of them and acts like he’s the invincible man. But somehow karma will find this man and exact justice for those he destroyed and killed.
Hearing Victoria Newton call The Sun a “responsible media organization” is maybe the funniest thing I’ve heard all week.
Same! But I bet she really believes that to be true.
This woman editor approved the Clarkson article on Meghan which appeared on the Friday before Ms Newton told Laura K on her Sunday Politics show that the Scrum had always been fair to Meg and Harry in their reportage. Laura K ducked the opportunity to brandish said article and put her on the spot to justify printing that crap about another woman. BBC let her and The Scum off the hook when Ms Newton was in the cross hair!
Did not know who Laura K was previous to that interview but now that I know, I think so very little of her. She’s trash imo.
The complicit British media are all in agreement to this moratorium/news blackout to defend and conceal Wootton’s criminal acts. But three got to be something or someone who will break the dam and expose this lying pervert.