Why I'm sympathetic to plight of former News of the World reporter
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Version 0 of 1. On Friday, we were finally able to reveal that a former News of the World royal reporter, Ryan Sabey, had been convicted last month of aiding and abetting a soldier to commit misconduct in a public office. An Old Bailey jury found him guilty along with Paul Brunt, a former lance corporal in the Household Cavalry regiment, who tipped him off with stories about Prince Harry. I am now able to declare that I offered to give evidence on Sabey’s behalf after reviewing the stories, the majority of which were justified as being in the public interest. As the prosecution accepted the bulk of my statement, Judge Charles Wide decided that I should not appear in the witness box. So I sat outside the courtroom while he debated the matter with counsel. According to the PA court report, Brunt was paid more than £16,000 to provide information and pictures about Harry to the now-defunct News of the World and to the Sun over an 18-month period in 2006 and 2007. He got £5,000 for a picture which resulted in a 2006 story in the News of the World entitled “Swastika shame of Harry’s regiment”, and also provided information about the prince’s deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. In his defence, Sabey told the court he considered Brunt to be a “whistle blower” who wanted to expose impropriety or wrongdoing. He explained that he was originally given Brunt’s contact details by his newsdesk and went on to maintain regular contact with him. He told the court that the NoW’s managing editor, Stuart Kuttner, approved the payments and that news desk executives Ian Edmondson and James Weatherup - both convicted phone hackers - knew of his source. I am particularly sympathetic to Sabey’s plight, although I do not know him and have never knowingly met him. But I do know that he was just 20 years old in 2001 when he joined the NoW and I am aware of the bullying culture at the paper at the time. If anyone wants an inside account of that, read Graham Johnson’s eye-opening book, Hack: Sex, drugs, and scandal from inside the tabloid jungle, published in 2012. Sabey, an ingenue reporter, was therefore inculcated into a regime of fear in which a reporter was only as good as his or her next story. Despite this, he appears to have prospered, not least because of the sources, like Brunt, that he kept sweet. At no stage was he aware that he was involved in criminality by paying Brunt. Until he was arrested by the Metropolitan police’s Operation Elveden team, he had no idea of the existence of the offence of aiding and abetting misconduct in a public office. While Sabey was giving evidence, there was an interesting exchange with his defence counsel, Orlando Pownall QC. Pownall: “Do you accept ignorance of the law is not a defence?” Sabey: “Yes.” Pownall: “But in doing what you did, did you consider that right-minded individuals such as this jury would think you were aiding and abetting misconduct in a public officer?” Sabey: “No.” But, sadly, the jury thought otherwise. Now he faces a jail sentence for doing his job. Judge Wide will sentence him and Brunt on Friday (27 March). And, lest I forget, or anyone else forgets, the only reason Sabey is in this invidious position is because the evidence against him was handed to the police by his employers, Rupert’s Murdoch’s News Corporation. Sources: The Guardian/PA Media Lawyer |