My mentor died a broken man after Keir Starmer’s groundless prosecution

[Colemans Left Hook]

My mentor died a broken man after Keir Starmer’s groundless prosecution

13th century F.F.S.   AND THEN WE HAD THE DONCASTER  AIRPORT " hi jACK" AFFAIR


https://www.standard.co.uk/comment/keir-starmer-john-kay-the-sun-prosecution-labour-party-b934680.html

TOM NEWTON DUNN
12 MAY 2021
This is a story about a tabloid journalist called John Kay. You may not have heard of him, but you’ll know the stories he broke. It’s also about Sir Keir Starmer, and how he broke John Kay.

Now, I’m aware that only the world’s smallest violin ever plays in sympathy for red top journalists (I was proud to be one for 20 odd years). But I’ll tell you the story anyway.

John Kay was The Sun’s Chief Reporter for 21 years. He was a Fleet Street legend for even longer, winning Reporter of the Year twice, a feat nobody else has managed. He broke some massive stories. Prince Edward quitting the Royal Marines, Roman Abramovich buying Chelsea, and publishing the entire “annus horribilis” Queen’s Christmas speech in advance to name three.

John’s theatrical routine, which I observed many times, went like this: he’d slam down his phone and loudly march up to the news desk to declare: “Right. I’ve got a Triple Belter. Where’s the editor?” Proud, and boastful at times, Johnners was also a very sensitive man with a troubled past. He was also kind to a fault. He mentored many young journalists, including me.

As Director of Public Prosecutions in 2012, Keir Starmer decided John and 32 other red top journalists should face criminal charges for paying public officials for information.

They were arrested in their homes in dawn raids, despite it being wholly unclear for months what the criminal offence was, and with none of them ever having any idea they had even committed one. All languished on police bail for three years, unable to work. All bar one were eventually acquitted at the Old Bailey of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office - the offence, which dates back to the 13th century offence with which the CPS had finally charged them. And the one journalist who was convicted later quashed it on appeal.

Why? Because there had been no crime. You may find paying for stories immoral (I don’t if it’s for the greater public good). But what is now without any doubt is it wasn’t criminal. As the Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas put it, during a caustic later ruling against the CPS: “Did you at any point consider the freedom of the Press?”

John was a free man, but the horrendous ordeal had broken him. He never came back to work, and his health rapidly deteriorated. He was admitted to a nursing home after his beloved wife Mercedes died, and became a virtual recluse. Last Friday, John died, aged 77.

How did he ever find himself facing such a perverse predicament? The answer is political pressure. When the phone hacking scandal broke in 2011, then Labour leader Ed Miliband threw the kitchen sink at trying to bring down Rupert Murdoch’s News International.

thanks for immediately viewing Iberian

[Jonathan]

John Kay sounds a lovely man. He literally got away with murder, didn’t he.

[Iberian Red]

My mentor died a broken man after Keir Starmer’s groundless prosecution

13th century F.F.S.   AND THEN WE HAD THE DONCASTER  AIRPORT " hi jACK" AFFAIR


https://www.standard.co.uk/comment/keir-starmer-john-kay-the-sun-prosecution-labour-party-b934680.html

TOM NEWTON DUNN
12 MAY 2021
This is a story about a tabloid journalist called John Kay. You may not have heard of him, but you’ll know the stories he broke. It’s also about Sir Keir Starmer, and how he broke John Kay.

Now, I’m aware that only the world’s smallest violin ever plays in sympathy for red top journalists (I was proud to be one for 20 odd years). But I’ll tell you the story anyway.

John Kay was The Sun’s Chief Reporter for 21 years. He was a Fleet Street legend for even longer, winning Reporter of the Year twice, a feat nobody else has managed. He broke some massive stories. Prince Edward quitting the Royal Marines, Roman Abramovich buying Chelsea, and publishing the entire “annus horribilis” Queen’s Christmas speech in advance to name three.

John’s theatrical routine, which I observed many times, went like this: he’d slam down his phone and loudly march up to the news desk to declare: “Right. I’ve got a Triple Belter. Where’s the editor?” Proud, and boastful at times, Johnners was also a very sensitive man with a troubled past. He was also kind to a fault. He mentored many young journalists, including me.

As Director of Public Prosecutions in 2012, Keir Starmer decided John and 32 other red top journalists should face criminal charges for paying public officials for information.

They were arrested in their homes in dawn raids, despite it being wholly unclear for months what the criminal offence was, and with none of them ever having any idea they had even committed one. All languished on police bail for three years, unable to work. All bar one were eventually acquitted at the Old Bailey of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office - the offence, which dates back to the 13th century offence with which the CPS had finally charged them. And the one journalist who was convicted later quashed it on appeal.

Why? Because there had been no crime. You may find paying for stories immoral (I don’t if it’s for the greater public good). But what is now without any doubt is it wasn’t criminal. As the Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas put it, during a caustic later ruling against the CPS: “Did you at any point consider the freedom of the Press?”

John was a free man, but the horrendous ordeal had broken him. He never came back to work, and his health rapidly deteriorated. He was admitted to a nursing home after his beloved wife Mercedes died, and became a virtual recluse. Last Friday, John died, aged 77.

How did he ever find himself facing such a perverse predicament? The answer is political pressure. When the phone hacking scandal broke in 2011, then Labour leader Ed Miliband threw the kitchen sink at trying to bring down Rupert Murdoch’s News International.

thanks for immediately viewing Iberian

"YouRe moRe" than welcome.
I didn't respond as I found it a very dull post,but thanks for paying attention.

[Glyn_Wigley]

What, not one word about the News Corp executives (such as Rebecca Brooks and others) who dobbed all their reporters into the police to save their own worthless skins? You're slipping CLH.

[Colemans Left Hook]

What, not one word about the News Corp executives (such as Rebecca Brooks and others) who dobbed all their reporters into the police to save their own worthless skins? You're slipping CLH.

Please stay focused on the thirtenth century topic

[Glyn_Wigley]

What, not one word about the News Corp executives (such as Rebecca Brooks and others) who dobbed all their reporters into the police to save their own worthless skins? You're slipping CLH.

Please stay focused on the thirtenth century topic

How about you try and focus on the whole story for a change?

https://pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/nationals/the-betrayal-of-newspaper-sources-jailed-under-operation-elveden-casts-a-shadow-over-our-industry/

"Every journalist knows rule one of our trade is that we protect our confidential sources."

[Colemans Left Hook]

Eureka

if Starmer can use a thirteenth Century Law to prosecute

then how about using a twelth century law


Doncaster was given to Scotland during the 12th century in the Treaty of Durham. It was never officially reclaimed by England, making the area legally still part of Scotland. This historical connection is significant to the town’s history and identity.

Viva McWigley

[Glyn_Wigley]

I can't be Scottish, I'm from Sheffield. Well done for yet more of your factually exemplary reportage we've come to know and laugh at.

[Glyn_Wigley]

Oh, and shame on you for caring not one jot for those public officials who were convicted and jailed because the principle of journalists (or in this case their bosses) protecting their sources was ignored.

Ignored in the same way this will no doubt be because you'll drivel on about something else in reply to this.

[MachoMadness]

Sad to hear this fella's beloved wife died. How did that happen? The article doesn't say.

[wilts rover]

Celebrating a Wife Killer

In 1977, John Kay, recently elevated to the position being industrial editor for The Sun, one of the United Kingdom’s largest newspapers, strangled and drowned his wife Harue, who was 27 years old. After killing her, Kay made a few half-hearted efforts to kill himself and then surrendered to the police. He claimed that the stress of the new job led to a nervous breakdown and the killing. The courts accepted his implausible and illogical account. he was sentenced to a charge of manslaughter due to diminished responsibility. After a brief spell in a psychiatric hospital, he was released and returned to The Sun, where he continued to rise in the ranks as one of the tabloids most prized and highest paid writers.

The Sun was remarkably indulgent and protective in the whole affair. When Kay was on trial, The Sun paid one of the most highly regarded lawyers in England, John Matthews QC, to defend the employee. The Sun wrote to the courts saying there would always be a job for him in newspaper.

The Sun’s pampering of Kay is all the more striking since the rightwing tabloid has a tough on crime editorial stance and has published many articles (including some from Kay) calling for harsh treatment of those who transgress the law. Perhaps John Kay deserved the mercy he received in 1977. It’s impossible to know at this point. What we do know is that The Sun and Kay had no mercy for many who didn’t share the newspaper’s tribal loyalties, particularly if they were people of color or foreigners.

https://jeetheer.substack.com/p/celebrating-a-wife-killer

What was John Kay's role in the Sun's reporting of Hillsborough?

What was John Kay's role in the phone hacking affair?

You have picked some mad hills to die on Coleman's - but eulogising this bloke/Sun jounalist is up among the top ones. Then again as Tom Newton Sc*m was the bloke who published the fake story about Labour extremists he was forced to withdraw I am not surprised you chose to promote his 'news'.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/09/sun-publish-far-right-conspiracy-theory-labour