Kiwi Dan Wootton suspended by Daily MailOnline as cash-for-sex-images allegations investigated

Dan Wootton has addressed what he describes as an "untrue story" that he offered individuals money in return for filming themselves carrying out sex acts.

The Daily Mail’s MailOnline has suspended New Zealand journalist Dan Wootton from his twice-weekly column as the company investigates allegations he offered colleagues money for sexual images.

The GB News presenter, who has written a regular column for MailOnline since 2021, was alleged to have inappropriately offered colleagues hefty sums of money in exchange for filming themselves carrying out sex acts, according to his ex-boyfriend Alex Truby.

Truby claimed Wootton used a pseudonym “Martin Branning” when allegedly making inappropriate approaches.

A spokesperson for MailOnline publisher DMG Media said on Thursday: “We are continuing to consider a series of allegations which Dan Wootton – who has written columns for MailOnline since 2021 as one of several outside freelance contributors – has strenuously denied.

“The allegations are obviously serious but also complex and historic, and there is an independent investigation under way at the media group which employed him during the relevant period.

“In the meantime, his freelance column with MailOnline has been paused.”

In July, Wootton responded to the claims, denying any wrongdoing, but did admit to “errors of judgment in the past”.

“I have made errors of judgment in the past but the criminal allegations which have been made against me are simply untrue. It is impossible to defend yourself against thousands of trolls,” Wootton told his GB News viewers.

He claimed he was the victim of a smear campaign, saying it was “a witch-hunt”.

Journalist Dan Wootton in 2012. Photo / Peter Macdiarmid, Getty Images

Wootton’s last article was published for MailOnline on June 29.

Wootton is also under investigation by his former employers at News UK, which publishes UK tabloid The Sun, where he worked for more than a decade.

Lower Hutt-born Wootton, a former reporter for the Dominion Post in Wellington, told his viewers that “as a journalist, I feel uncomfortable being the story”.

“These past few days, I have been the target of a smear campaign by nefarious players with an axe to grind,” Wootton said.

He described the relationship with his ex as toxic, alleging he had been threatened by him many years after they broke up. He said he had been forced to report his behaviour to police, although it was not clear when he had done that.

“They are now investigating.

“He has created an untrue story about me and appears to have been working with an organisation who are intent on closing down this channel whose reporters include a convicted phone hacker,” Wootton said, referring to an independent news website that has picked up the allegations.

That site reported that staff at The Sun and a senior executive at The Sun’s publisher, News UK, had been offered money by a Martin Brunning to send sexual images.

The Guardian itself said it had “over the last three years talked to multiple individuals working in the media who say they have been approached online by a person using the name Martin Branning”.

Dan Wootton works for the Daily Mail in London. Photo / Facebook

“The individuals, usually with links to The Sun, described being offered tens of thousands of pounds by Branning, usually in return for performing sexual acts on camera. The messages appeared to be personalised and were targeted at individuals, usually straight men, including employees of News UK,” The Guardian reported.

Wootton was in New Zealand on a holiday to see family in July when the allegations surfaced.

“I recognise I’m a polarising figure and by speaking out in this way, I am opening the gates of hell on my life,” he told his viewers.

“But social media has become a race to the bottom. Pile-ons are the way to cancel a person. Our country is better than that. We must be.”

Wootton has made no further comments on the allegations and investigations.