Thread by @docrussjackson

#THREAD

The High Court has been told that the current editor of the toxic Daily Express, Gary Jones, was “involved in phone hacking” & “a prolific user of private investigators” while working at Murdoch's News of the World, & the Daily Mirror, in the 1990s & 2000s.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1485544867178725377

Although the court has heard allegations against many former editors, including Murdoch's #TalkTV presenter, Piers Morgan, this is the first time during this trial that a serving national newspaper editor has been accused of involvement in phone hacking.

bylinetimes.com/2023/03/16/pri…

Graham Johnson, a former Sunday Mirror reporter, told the High Court that “This is an investigation into an organised crime group, which is Mirror Group Newspapers. I investigated drug gangs in Liverpool, fraud factories in south-east London, and street gangs in Birmingham.”

“The Mirror Group is no different from an organised crime group in that respect. This is a true crime story.”

Johnson claimed that Gary Jones (Express editor since 2018) handled hacked material relating to Sadie Frost while working as a reporter for the Daily Mirror.

Johnson said Jones “was a prolific user of private investigators”, “involved in phone hacking” while working with Greg Miskiw, who commissioned hundreds of hacks at the News of the World.

Jones worked for Piers Morgan at NOTW in the mid-1990s, before following him to the Mirror.

Johnson told the court: “None of these people (called as a defence witness by the Mirror) will give evidence & I’d like to know why. I’d like Mirror Group to answer that question. I’d like to know why Piers Morgan isn’t here to give evidence.”

bylinetimes.com/2020/01/21/pie…

“Where historical wrongdoing has taken place, we have made admissions, take full responsibility & apologise unreservedly, but we will vigorously defend against allegations of wrongdoing where our journalists acted lawfully.” - Mirror Group spokesperson.

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-655470…

Prince Harry and more than 100 other claimants are suing Mirror Group Newspapers, alleging that the publisher engaged in widespread illegal behaviour & then covered up the evidence.

news.sky.com/story/prince-h…

The Mirror’s barrister, Andrew Green KC, suggested that Johnson, who made the allegations against Jones, was not an “objective and independent witness” because he was working closely with the lawyers for Prince Harry and the other claimants.

Johnson is a self-confessed phone hacker who accepts that he regularly commissioned illegal acts and fabricated stories while working as a tabloid journalist during the 1990s & 2000s. He was sacked from Murdoch's NOTW after claiming he'd found evidence of the “Beast of Bodmin”.

The journalist said he realised the error of his ways after reading a philosophy book by Alain de Botton & had since dedicated himself to exposing wrongdoing in the media.

Green told the court Johnson had paid people who made allegations of illegal behaviour at newspapers.

The Mirror raised doubts about the source of this money, suggesting Johnson was not an independent journalist but a campaigner working in collaboration with the lawyers for the claimants.

Johnson responded: “I am not objective and independent, in as much as I think it is wrong for organised crime to take place at your newspaper and other newspapers. I am very happy to help the victims of the organised crime at Mirror Group.”

The court also heard evidence from convicted private investigator Steve Whittamore, who said he illegally obtained records on behalf of Daily Mirror journalists. The High Court heard that his clients at the newspaper included Tom Newton Dunn, now a presenter on Murdoch's #TalkTV.