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Hacking Blogging the Times

Ex-Times reporter cautioned over 'NightJack’ hacking

By James Doleman |

August 15, 2014 | 4 min read

Former The Times journalist Patrick Foster, who admitted hacking emails to discover the identity of an anonymous blogger, will not be brought to trial, the Crown Prosecution Service announced today.

In a statement this afternoon the CPS said that Foster had accepted a caution In relation to an allegation of unauthorised computer access contrary to Section 1 of the Computer Misuse Act 1989.

The Blog “NightJack” was a hard-hitting account of modern policing from the perspective of an anonymous rank and file officer which, in 2009, won the first Orwell prize for online writing.

In a controversial 2009 judgement, Mr Justice Eady rejected an application by the then anonymous site author that his name not be published. Eady instead ruled that “blogging was a public activity” and there was a "clear public interest" in revealing who the police officer was.

This led to The Times revealing that the NightJack blog was written by detective constable Richard Horton, leading to his website being deleted and Horton being subjected to disciplinary action by Lancashire Constabulary.

The Times had claimed in court that they had discovered Horton’s identity through “brilliant detective work” by Foster. However, it was revealed at the Leveson Inquiry into press ethics that the reporter had identified the police officer by hacking his Gmail account, which led to the journalist being arrested in 2012, the Times issuing a public apology and paying Horton £42,500 in damages.

In a statement today, Foster said: “The past two years of this unnecessarily heavy-handed police investigation have been a nightmare. I have been unemployable, but have had to bear the cost of substantial legal fees.”

He added: “No one should ever have to suffer the extrajudicial punishment of two years on police bail, and my sympathies are with others still languishing in this invidious position.”

Leading legal commentator David Allen Green, who at the New Statesman reported the news of the hacking of the NightJack email, told the Drum: “This is the right decision, but the two-year long bail for the reporter was unacceptable.

"It was also needless, as the case was about a discrete set of facts which the civil courts were able to resolve in a matter of months. It was quite wrong for Scotland Yard and the CPS to keep the individuals hanging on for two years."

He went on: "There can be no good reason for the delay. The Times apologised and paid Richard Horton generous compensation. That really should have been the end of the matter."

It was also announced today that Foster and Alastair Brett, a former Times lawyer, will face no further action over a second allegation into an alleged conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and commiting perjury in relation to the outing of Nightjack

Explaining their decision, the CPS said: "The evidence was considered carefully in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors and the DPP's guidelines on the public interest in cases affecting the media. In accepting a caution an individual accepts responsibility for the offending set out."

The caution for Foster follows the acquittal on Wednesday of former The Sun journalist Ben Ashford, who was also charged under the Computer Misuse Act.

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