A new Plod twist in Hackgate

[David Guyatt]

Not so much police brutality, but certainly police coercion - it's the sort of thing that once would've have resulted in a reprimand of the officer concerned. But not anymore it seems.

Phone Hacking Trial: Police accused of trying to stop Private Eye sales

Index on Censorship says it is 'worrying' that officers allegedly suggested a news vendor in Farringdon should remove copies of the satirical magazine from display and warned it could be in contempt of court over Rebekah Brooks' Old Bailey trial

Former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, former News Of The World editor and Downing Street's former director of communications arrive at the Old Bailey Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images








By Sam Marsden, Martin Evans and Alice Philipson

7:18PM GMT 29 Oct 2013



Police were accused of displaying a "worrying" blasé attitude towards the freedom of the press after officers warned a newsagent about the potential implications of selling Private Eye on the grounds that a joke could prejudice Rebekah Brooks' phone hacking trial.

A news vendor said a policeman asked him to "consider" taking down issues of the satirical magazine he had on display at his kiosk near the Old Bailey, where Mrs Brooks is standing trial alongside fellow former News of the World editor Andy Coulson.

The officer allegedly said the latest edition of Private Eye could be in contempt of court over its Halloween-themed cover, which features a picture of Mrs Brooks above the caption, "Horror witch costume withdrawn from shops".

The vendor refused to stop selling the magazine without seeing a court order demanding its removal, and the Attorney General, Dominic Grieve, later ruled that there was no need to launch contempt proceedings.

Mr Justice Saunders, the judge in the phone hacking case, on Tuesday showed the jury the issue of Private Eye and told them to ignore the cover, which he said was "a joke in especially bad taste".

However, Index on Censorship said the police's behaviour in suggesting that sales of the magazine near the court should be halted was "really problematic".
Padraig Reidy, from the freedom of speech campaign group, said: "It is an example of a very blasé attitude towards the free press on the part of these individual policemen. That is worrying.
"The vendor should be congratulated for demanding to see a court order, which didn't appear."
Tony McCarthy, who runs a news stand outside Farringdon Tube station, half a mile from the Old Bailey, said a plainclothes police officer approached him at about 1pm on Tuesday and asked if he would take down his copies of Private Eye.
He said: "I had a policeman come down to my kiosk and he asked me if I knew how many copies had been sent out by my distributor and to how many outlets.
"He asked me, on the directive of the CPS [Crown Prosecution Service], would you consider taking your copies down?' He said it was something to do with contempt of court."
The vendor, whose 175 copies of the new Private Eye issue have been selling twice as quickly as usual, said he refused.
Mr McCarthy added that two hours earlier he had been visited by two people who bought copies of the magazine and took pictures of his stall but refused to give their names.
Police also visited a second news stand at nearby St Paul's Tube station and took a copy of an order form listing how many copies of Private Eye had been ordered after the initial batch sold out.
However, the vendor insisted that the officers did not warn him to stop selling the magazine in the future.
Scotland Yard said in a statement: "Metropolitan Police Service officers, in conjunction with other parties within the trial, made enquiries with a vendor about the latest Private Eye publication to assist the court. They advised the vendor that the publication may be in contempt of court."
A Crown Prosecution Service spokesman added: "This is a matter for the courts."
A source stressed that the CPS had not asked the police to request that vendors remove copies of the magazine from sale.
A spokesman for the Attorney General said: "The front cover of the current edition of Private Eye has been brought to the attention of the Attorney General, but it has been decided that proceedings for a potential contempt of court are not required in this case."
Private Eye declined to comment.
Mrs Brooks, 45, who also edited The Sun before becoming chief executive of Rupert Murdoch's News International, is accused of conspiracy to intercept voicemails, conspiracy to cause misconduct in public office and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
Mr Coulson, 45, who was Prime Minister David Cameron's director of communications, is facing charges related to phone hacking and to alleged corrupt payments.
They are standing trial with six other people, including Mrs Brooks's racehorse trainer husband Charlie, 50, Stuart Kuttner, 73, a former News of the World managing editor, and Ian Edmondson, 44, a former News of the World head of news. They have all pleaded not guilty.
The judge told jurors on Tuesday that British justice itself was "on trial" in the case as he warned them not to take any notice of comments posted on Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites.
The prosecution is expected to set out its case in an opening statement on Wednesday afternoon at the start of the five-month trial.

The offending article:

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