Friday, April 13, 2012

I wish him success

Nightjack was a hero of the blogging world, he told several cynical tales of his life as a detective, most outstandingly his "guide for decent people". In the end he was cruelly exposed by the Times despite an attempt to get a court injunction to stop it.
Telegraph.
The detective exposed by the Times as the man behind the anonymous NightJack police blog has begun legal proceedings against the newspaper.
Richard Horton lodged a claim against the publisher of the Times at the High Court on Wednesday.
Documents show that he is claiming aggravated and exemplary damages from Times Newspapers for breach of confidence, misuse of private information and deceit.
Mr Horton, a serving officer in Lancashire, was exposed by the newspaper after a reporter hacked into his email account in 2009.
A High Court bid to prevent the Times from naming him was unsuccessful after a judge was told his identity had been gleaned by “deduction” using information that was in the public domain.
Alastair Brett, the paper’s former legal manager, has since admitted that he did not give the court “the full story” of how Patrick Foster, a former reporter, had unmasked NightJack.
Mr Foster submitted a court statement claiming that he had worked out the officer’s identity via information on the internet, neglecting to mention the email hacking.
Mr Brett told the Leveson Inquiry last month that he told Mr Foster “not to engage” with the suggestion that he had hacked into Mr Horton’s emails because he “might have been prosecuted”.
The lawyer even neglected to tell the newspaper’s own barrister, who was fighting the court action on Mr Foster’s behalf, about the email hacking.
I truly wish Mr Horton well in this, what the Times did was despicable and unnecessary. Nightjack lifted the lid on police thinking in the upper echelons. The expose by the Times ended up with him getting a written warning and probably put paid to him getting promotion too.
The Times, its reporter Patrick Foster, and its editor James Harding managed to close down an award-winning blog, and caused problems for those of us who believe in free expression in this country. They were (and are still) a disgrace to their profession especially as it turns out they used illegal means to identify Nightjack in the first place. It was not (in my view) in the public's interest for Nightjack to be exposed, it appears to have been a matter of seeking an exclusive at the cost of the confidentiality of an anonymous blogger.
The Times was wrong then, I hope he makes them pay big time.

 

4 annotations:

General Pyston Broke said...

Here, here.

WitteringsfromWitney said...

I can but echo GPB, QM.

I hope he does make the bastards pay big time.........!

Anonymous said...

Given that there was apparent collusion between Times staff to mislead and conceal evidence in a court case, surely some of these folk should be facing criminal charges for perjury?

Monty

Anonymous said...

Good posting and I read the old postings on the NJ blog.

Having been on the receiving end of the "might of the law" I agree with every word NJ says, thankfully I stood up for myself against the bullying.

I hope he gets a shed load of money.