Operation Elveden: cleared journalist tells of 'hellish four-year ordeal'
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Version 0 of 1. A former News of the World crime editor, whose appeal against her conviction led to the collapse of the majority of cases against journalists accused of paying sources, has spoken of her “hellish four-year ordeal”. Lucy Panton spoke for the first time about her experience at the hands of police and prosecutors on Operation Elveden after being formally cleared at the Old Bailey of paying a public official for information. Panton and a Sun journalist, Vince Soodin, had been due to face trial on charges of paying sources for information. But in a reversal forced on the Crown Prosecution Service by the court of appeal, prosecutors said last week that the cases against them and seven other journalists would be dropped. The turnaround was a blow to the four-year investigation into journalists and their sources, which was sparked by revelations about phone hacking at the News of the World. It was Panton’s successful appeal against an earlier conviction for conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office that led to the collapse of the Elveden cases. In the judgment, the lord chief justice, Lord Thomas, questioned the use of the 700-year-old common law offence to pursue journalists, and said the jury was misdirected. Public interest had to be considered before the actions of the journalists could be considered criminal, he said. Panton described how her home was raided at 6am in December 2011 and police officers “turfed my six-month-old son out of his cot”. She spent more than 19 months on bail before being charged. Panton was the first reporter to be convicted of the offence, and her appeal was granted earlier this year. Prosecutors had been planning to try her for the second offence but withdrew their case against her along with eight others after examining the appeal court ruling. “This has been a long time coming and I want to say a massive thank you to my amazing family, friends and legal team, whose unwavering support has got me through this hellish four-year ordeal,” she said on Thursday. The journalist praised her barrister, John Butterfield QC, for fighting for the freedom of the press and making history by winning her appeal. “The victory is bittersweet, as three of my colleagues are still awaiting trials,” she said. “We cannot truly call this over until the witch-hunt against journalists and those who have tested authority by talking to journalists are freed from persecution. I hope they get their justice sooner rather than later.” Panton thanked the Crime Reporters Association, readers of the UK Press Gazette, a trade magazine for journalists, and the wider journalistic community who, in her “darkest hour”, set up a fighting fund to help pay legal fees. Describing the ordeal, she said: “I was on maternity leave with my six-week-old son when the NotW closed in July 2011. At 6am on December 15 later that year, nine police officers raided my home and turfed my then six-month-old son out of his cot along with his five-year-old sister from her bed. “I was jobless, isolated and unable to pay my legal fees. After 19 months on bail and four intrusive police interviews I was finally charged. “As the only journalist arrested by Operation Elveden who was not having their legal bills paid by a media organisation I was left to fend for myself. So I cannot describe the overwhelming relief felt by me and my family when Fleet Street and beyond came to my aid. In just three days enough money was raised to pay the massive outstanding legal bills I was facing.” In court, the prosecutor Sandip Patel QC told the trial judge: “In the wake of the court of appeal ruling my lord knows of and verdicts in other cases, there occurred a comprehensive review of Soodin’s case at the most senior level. The decision has been made not to seek a retrial of Mr Soodin – that would be not in the public interest to do so.” Soodin was facing a retrial after an Old Bailey jury had failed to reach a verdict in his initial trial. Mark Trafford QC, who was prosecuting Panton , said the same decision had been reached in her case. Of 27 journalists charged under Operation Elveden, just one was convicted. The failure rate has put pressure on the the director of public prosecutions, Alison Saunders, who was already under scrutiny for her decision not to prosecute Lord Janner for alleged historical child abuse. Saunders took over the cases from the outgoing director, Keir Starmer, and continued with the prosecutions until the CPS was forced into a review by the court of appeal. Speaking outside court, Soodin said Saunders and Starmer “should hang their heads in shame” for bringing the prosecutions of the journalists. “They have dragged numerous journalists through the courts and caused heartache for their loved ones,” he said. “They claim this wasn’t an attack on the freedom of the press, but it was. I’m just glad that the lord chief justice brought some sanity to these prosecutions after Lucy Panton’s appeal.” Three journalists still face trial for allegedly paying for stories from public officials. |