Ant and Dec win court order to trace 'secret profits' from Banksy deals

A High Court judge has said there is a "good arguable case" that wrongdoing was committed against Ant and Dec in deals to buy and sell Banksy artworks.

The TV presenters have claimed an intermediary took "secret and unauthorised profits" from the transactions, and the pair asked the court to help them obtain information about money they say went missing.

Judge Iain Pester has now agreed to issue an order to force an art dealer to disclose details of his trades with the unnamed intermediary.

The judge's ruling said there was a "good arguable case that a form of legally recognised wrong has been committed", but that he was "not making any finding that [the consultant] has any liability" or had "done anything wrong".

Ant and Dec enlisted the intermediary, a consultant referred to as X in court, to help them buy, sell and loan the artworks as they built up a contemporary art collection.

They now want to "uncover what really happened in relation to these transactions", Harry Martin, for Ant and Dec, told a hearing on Tuesday.

The transactions include their £550,000 purchase of a set of six prints in which Banksy depicted model Kate Moss as actress Marilyn Monroe in the style of Andy Warhol.

They say the seller apparently only received £300,000, and want to know what happened to the other £250,000.

They also have "similar concerns" about being deprived of "a substantial sum" from selling 22 items, the court was told.

They include a version of Banksy's Napalm, which shows the girl - nine-year-old Kim Phuc - from a famous 1972 photo of people fleeing a napalm attack during the Vietnam War, made to look like she's holding hands with Mickey Mouse and Ronald McDonald.

Martin said X sold it for £13,000 but told the presenters they had received £11,000, leaving "a discrepancy of £2,000".

The disclosure order will allow them to obtain relevant information from art dealer Andrew Lilley and his firm Lilley Fine Art Ltd, which were involved in buying works from Ant and Dec and selling works to them, the court heard.

Lilley and his dealership are not accused of wrongdoing but were "mixed up in the wrongdoing" and were "involved in the flow of money", Martin told the court.

Lilley has previously refused to give information about the transactions, citing confidentiality, but said he would comply with any court order, the court heard.

Lilley told BBC News he had been "caught up in this mess and it really has nothing to do with me".

"I was just purchasing art on what I thought was fair and market value, no idea what was going on in the background," he said.

“This is a matter for the courts now and between A&D [Ant and Dec] and the third party [X]."