Police bribes probe: journalis

A journalist has been cleared of bribing a policeman after a massive inquiry into police corruption prompted by a story leaked to The Sun two years ago about the comedian Lenny Henry.
Freelance reporter John Ross Ross would have faced jail if convicted of paying �200 to detective constable David Dougall for a package of restricted police documents.
But he was acquitted by a jury at Inner London Crown Court of "aiding and abetting wilful misconduct in public office".police inquiry, which also involved Sun crime reporter Mike Sullivan and several stories that appeared under his byline.
He said the first of these was a January 2003 Sun story revealing that the police were investigating racist threats issued against Henry. It is understood that Henry was outraged that details of the investigation had been apparently leaked by the police and as a result refused to co-operate further with the inquiry and launched a complaint.

Afterwards, Ross said: "I was on trial for Fleet Street. This is a great day for the free press."

Ross said his prosecution was originally part of a wider police inquiry, which also involved Sun crime reporter Mike Sullivan and several stories that appeared under his byline.

He said the first of these was a January 2003 Sun story revealing that the police were investigating racist threats issued against Henry. It is understood that Henry was outraged that details of the investigation had been apparently leaked by the police and as a result refused to co-operate further with the inquiry and launched a complaint.

Ross believes the police dropped their investigation against The Sun because: "It would have revealed a lot of conversations between Mike and senior officers and they didn't want to open that can of worms."

Last week's trial instead concentrated on an incident on 12 July this year when Ross met Detective Constable David Dougall in the restaurant Ha Ha, near Charing Cross in London.

Ross said he was called by Dougall, a regular contact of his, and told to meet him at the restaurant because he "had something" for him.

Unknown to the pair, Dougall was under surveillance and anti-corruption officers swooped after Dougall handed over an envelope of documents.

Ross was accused of paying Dougall �200 for the documents, but he successfully argued in court that the cash was an unrelated loan.

He told Press Gazette: "I often used to lend him money, and he always paid it back."

Ross said the documents were low-grade intelligence which, although marked restricted, were of little news value. He said they appeared to have been downloaded from the police intranet, a system that he said can be viewed by more than 40,000 police officers and staff.

Ross, 58, has been a freelance journalist for 20 years and said scoops he has played a hand in have included breaking news of the death of the Queen Mother, the shooting of Jill Dando and the 1994 death of MP Stephen Milligan, who was found wearing stockings and suspenders with an orange in his mouth.

Ross believes the inquiry against himself and Dougall has cost more than �1 million and has included a six-month surveillance operation against the policeman.

Dougall, 42, of New Eltham, has admitted misconduct in a public office and is awaiting sentence.

Ross believes the investigation against him has been part of a wider Metropolitan Police crackdown on stories that haven't come out through official channels.

He said: "Since this investigation, there haven't been any major celebrity crime stories.

This case was about whether the cops can talk to crime reporters. The commissioner and his complaints department are saying �no, they can't'. You can only get your information through official briefings, which are a waste of time really."

He added: "If I had gone down I would have gone to prison without a doubt. After this, perhaps cops will start talking to us again, that's why this is a big victory for the free press."

Among those giving evidence on behalf of Ross was Sky News crime correspondent Martin Brunt, who talked about the relationship between journalists and the police. He said afterwards: "If I'd been given those documents under the circumstances I'd have thought wow, great story potentially."

In 2003, Sun editor Rebekah Wade, formerly editor of the News of the World, admitted to a parliamentary inquiry into the press and privacy: "We have paid the police for information in the past."

The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) issued a statement in response to questions from Press Gazette.

It said: "The investigation was prompted by concerns raised by officers in relation to a number of instances where details of investigations involving �high-profile' individuals appeared in the media. While we are not prepared to discuss individual cases, the investigation found that in a number of cases, complainants refused to co-operate further with police enquiries because of a perception that information was being leaked to the media."

Regarding the suggestion that it did not want to open a "can of worms" by pursuing The Sun, it said: "All information in this case was passed to the Crown Prosecution Service for appraisal and it was its decision as to whether individuals should be charged with any offences."

It added: "The MPS takes all allegations of corruption, relating to officers and staff, extremely seriously.

Maintaining the integrity of the organisation and public confidence in the police service is a fundamental element to everything we do.

"The MPS is committed to identifying not only corrupt officers and staff, but also to pursuing those individuals who seek to corrupt our staff. We will thoroughly investigate any such allegation and endeavour to prosecute individuals who attempt to corrupt public officials.

"The MPS will continue to treat with the utmost seriousness any allegation of corrupt practice by any of its staff or any attempt by an individual or group to one of its employees."

The Sun declined to comment.

EiP Comments:

* We have no wish to infringe the copyright of any newspaper or periodical. If you feel that we have done so then please contact us with the details and we will remove the article. The articles republished on this site are provided for the purposes of research , private study, criticism , review, and the reporting of current events' We have no wish to infringe the copyright of any newspaper , periodical or other works. If you feel that we have done so then please contact us with the details and where necessary we will remove the work concerned.

Other related articles:

Article sourced from

Press Gazette, UK03 November 2005

Police bribes probe: journalis

EiP Comments:

Press Gazette, UK
03 November 2005