Sun paid MoD official close to average wage for army tip-offs, court told
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Version 0 of 1. A Ministry of Defence official was being paid close to the “national average wage” by the Sun for tip offs about incidents in the army, a court has heard. The chief reporter of the paper John Kay, 71, is on trial over his contact with Bettina Jordan-Barber who received £100,000 over eight years from the paper. Prosecutor Michael Parroy put it to Kay that this was an “enormous” amount of money. Disagreeing, Kay said he regarded the amounts as “reasonable” as she was exposing “public interest” stories that the army otherwise wanted to “suppress” including tales about bullying of new recruits, shortages of equipment in Afghanistan and security breaches. “Spread over a long period if time it might seem like an enormous amount of money but averaged out over eight years it was not very high compared to what we would pay for,” said Kay. During cross-examination in the Old Bailey trial, he confirmed that she was paid £5,000 for a tip off about a frenzied attack on a “gallant” soldier who had been awarded the Victoria Cross. “These are not trifling figures,” said Parroy. “But they are not excessive figures in newspapers,” replied Kay. “In terms of everyday life, they are substantial figures aren’t they?” asked Parroy. “Yes”, replied Kay. Parroy put it to Kay that Jordan-Barber was “laying golden eggs of stories” for the Sun and was being rewarded well for this. “In 2005 she earned £19,500, net of tax or “our friend national insurance” Parroy said. “Close to £20,000 for easy maths, that’s £400 a week,” he said in cross-examination. “Yes,” Kay responded. In 2007 the Sun paid Jordan-Barber £21,500, in 2008 £18,000, in 2009,£17,500, and in 2010 she received £6,500, according to evidence before the jury, Kay was asked if the paper would make such cash payments to an “ordinary civilian” who rings the paper with a story. “It’s just like a car factory needs steel to make cars, we need information to make newspapers,” he replied. He agreed that it would have been better if he had had the stories “for free” but said this was not possible in the competitive newspaper world. “Free stories do not grow on trees,” he said adding: “I regarded the payments to Bettina Jordan-Barber as very reasonable”. Parroy pressed him on his earlier evidence that all the stories he received from Jordan-Barber were in the “public interest”. He put it to Kay that “smutty stories about sexual peccadilloes” of army officers were not in the “public interest”. “I would disagree,” said Kay, explaining that if there were improper affairs taking place among army officers in breach of the Armed Forces code of social conduct such stories would be in the “public interest”. The jury has heard that Jordan-Barber has been linked to 69 stories including one about a “nookie-mad” officer. “To improperly sensationalise them [the affairs] would be dreadful journalism wouldn’t it”. “It would indeed,” said Kay. Retaining his composure throughout the cross-examination, the Sun’s chief reporter has denied that the newspaper felt it operated “above the law” by paying public officials for stories, a court has heard. He told jurors that the paper had rules about who would pay and it would only pay public officials in “special” circumstances. “Did that really result in this? That you and others within the newspaper effectively thought that you were all above the law,” asked Parroy. “I disagree with that about above the law,” said Kay. “But you could act with complete impunity?” “Not with complete impunity, within the bounds and parameters set down in the office.” Asked if this meant there was no ban on paying public officials, Kay responded: “No, in special circumstances only.” Kay says he has never paid a police officer but he would pay one if the information they supplied was of a “serious nature” such as exposure of “child abuse, corruption, stories like that”. Kay is on trial with three other senior Sun journalists. All four deny all charges. The trial continues |