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Sun journalists corrupted public figures on a grand scale, court told Sun journalists corrupted public figures on a grand scale, court told
(about 2 hours later)
Six senior staff and journalists at the Sun corrupted public officials “on a grand scale” to boost profits and further their agenda, a jury has been told. Six journalists and executives at the Sun conducted “corruption on a grand scale” during almost a decade of paying cash to public officials for confidential information, a court heard.
The group of editors and reporters bought confidential information about members of the royal family, celebrities, notorious inmates, “the famous, not so famous and the infamous”, Kingston crown court heard. Information was bought on “the famous, not so famous and the infamous”, from police officers, members of the Armed Forces, prison officials and staff at Broadmoor hospital, a jury heard.
They allegedly paid off police officers, members of the armed forces, prison officials and staff at Broadmoor who sold them stories for almost a decade. The confidential information included celebrity arrests as well as on “notorious” inmates including the Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe, and Soham murderer Ian Huntley, and leaks on the hunt for missing schoolgirl Milly Dowler.
Peter Wright QC, prosecuting, told the jury of three women and nine men: “This trial is about a series of corrupt agreements between staff and journalists at the Sun newspaper on the one hand, and various public officials on the other. Peter Wright, QC, prosecuting, told Kingston crown court: “This trial is about a series of corrupt agreements between staff and journalists at the Sun newspaper on the one hand, and various public officials on the other.”.
“It concerns corrupt agreements entered into by them, the purpose of which was to provide journalists at the newspaper with confidential information to which the various public officials had access by virtue of their employment, and they were doing it in return for payment.” “It concerns corrupt agreements entered into by each of them, the purpose of which was to provide journalists at the newspaper with confidential information to which the various public officials had access by virtue of their employment and they were doing it in return for payment.”
He continued: “This was not, we say, a public servant who was whistle-blowing on some grave miscarriage or act of the state or public body which it was considered the public needed to be aware of and respond to, which is what investigative journalism is all about. It was, said Wright, “craven conduct directed by the greed on the part of the public servants that they could sell information, and journalists and management at the Sun were prepared to pay for it”.
“We say this was craven conduct directed by the greed on the part of the public servants that they could sell information, and journalists and management at the Sun were prepared to pay for it. They were prepared to nurture and cultivate a relationship in which there was provision of confidential information in return for payment.” The case concerned activities between 2002 and 2011. “It was, we say, corruption on a grand scale,” Wright added.
He said the activity began as long ago as 2001/2 and continued for the best part of a decade. He said payments were authorised and “no one ever seems to raise the slightest concern” at the propriety or legality. The only concern expressed is “as to the monetary value of the information”.
The men connived together as part of an over-arching plot and also separately in “sub-conspiracies”, prosecutors say. “For each of them the end justified the means”.
The Sun’s head of news Chris Pharo faces a total of six charges of conspiring to commit misconduct in a public office, while the former managing editor Graham Dudman and former deputy news editor Ben O’Driscoll face four charges. The Sun’s head of news Chris Pharo, 45, faces six charges of conspiring to commit misconduct in public office, while ex-managing director Graham Dudman, 51, and ex-Sun deputy news editor Ben O’Driscoll, 38, each face four. Reporter Jamie Pyatt, 51, and picture editor John Edwards, 50, are each charged with three counts, and ex-Sun reporter John Troup, 49, is charged with two.
Thames Valley district reporter Jamie Pyatt and picture editor John Edwards are charged with three counts each and ex-Sun reporter John Troup is accused of two counts. Opening the case, Wright said their motivation was “not public interest but profit”.
Pharo, 45, of Sandhurst; Pyatt, 51, of Windsor; O’Driscoll, 38, of Windsor; Edwards, 50, of Brentwood; Dudman, 51, of Brentwood; and Troup, 49, of Saffron Walden, deny the charges against them. This did not involve “whistleblowing” or any “grave miscarriage or grave act of the state or public body”, he said.
Wright said their motivation “was not public interest but profit” and “to further their own agenda”. Wright said the origins of the charges against the six dated back to 2000 when a Surrey police officer “tipped off” Pyatt over details of the arrest of Simply Red singer Mick Hucknall on a rape allegation. The singer was released without charge. But the officer went on to become a paid source for Pyatt on numerous stories, providing “every cough and spit”, said Wright.
“The principal interest, we say, of the journalists and staff at the Sun, we say, was good copy,” he told the jury. “Newsworthiness – splashes, as they are called in the trade, and exclusives. The sort of stories that would attract reader interest and boost sales in the daily competition for readership and profitability of a newspaper in the national media.” The jury was told information was sold on Sutcliffe and Robert Napper, the killer of Rachel Nickell, through a source at Broadmoor. Dane Bowers, former boyfriend of the model then known as Jordan, was also the subject of paid for police leaks.
The prosecutor denied that the trial was an attack on press freedom to report stories that were in the public interest. He said the crown accepted “as a matter of important principle [that] the freedom of the press is vital”. Wright told the court: “Each of these defendants was prepared to break the law. The trial was not an assault upon the fundamental freedom of the press”, which, though an important principle, “is not absolute”, he said.
But he said the freedom of the press was not absolute. “The criminal law applies to journalists as well as the rest of us,” he said. “Corrupting public officials with money in return for the provision to journalists of confidential material held or obtained by them by virtue of their public office is, we say, a crime.” Pharo had “at least five journalists”who reported to him for payment for sources during this time and allegedly authorised payments on 34 occasions totalling £21,000, the court heard. These included paid tips from a soldier at Sandhurst where Princess William and Harry were cadets.
The origins of the alleged conspiracy could be traced back to late 2000 when the Simply Red frontman Mick Hucknall was arrested over an allegation of rape, Wright said. O’Driscoll allegedly authorised payments on four occasions, including one about an attempted poisoning of the Ann Summers boss Jacqueline Gold by her nanny, which was also among stories allegedly authorised for payment by Edwards.
The rape allegation against the singer was dropped a day later but, having received a tipoff from former Surrey police officer Simon Quinn, Pyatt then cultivated him as a paid source. Dudman allegedly signed off payments to public officials on two occasions. He is also accused of paying thousands of pounds to an unknown police officer or officers for information relating to Ian Huntley, convicted of the Soham murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.
When in May 2009 the same officer leaked a story about Dane Bowers, the former boyfriend of glamour model Jordan, Pyatt was said to have told Pharo: “He has been with me since the Mick Hucknall splash for rape and knows what a splash and spread exclusive on Jordan is worth.” Troup is accused of paying an unknown prison guard at HMP Whitemoor.
Wright said this showed that the stories which were being bought to “titillate or amuse as opposed to inform the public on matter of public interest”. Pyatt is accused of making payments on 45 occasions handing over more than £25,000 to public official sources.
He added: “It is the prosecution’s case that the defendants were not troubled by the propriety or indeed the legality of what they were engaged in irrespective of whether they were staff, journalist or public officer because for each of them the ends justified the means.” The case continues.
The trial continues.