Ex-Sun deputy editor charged in Met's corruption probe

 
18 April 2013
WEST END FINAL

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A former Sun deputy editor was today charged over allegedly plotting to pay a public official a total of £7,000 to hand over confidential information.

Fergus Shanahan is accused of conspiring to commit misconduct in a public office by authorising a journalist to make two payments to the official between August 2006 and the same month the following year.

The charge, brought as part of the Met’s Operation Elveden probe into corruption by police and other officials, was announced today by Alison Levitt QC, the principal legal adviser at the Crown Prosecution Service.

She said that it related to evidence submitted by Scotland Yard detectives to prosecutors in March and added: “Following a careful review of the evidence, we have concluded that Fergus Shanahan, who served as an editor at the Sun newspaper, should be charged with an offence of conspiring to commit misconduct in public office.

“It is alleged that in August 2006 and August 2007 Mr Shanahan, in his role as an editor, authorised one of his journalists to make two payments totalling £7,000 to a public official for the disclosure of information.

“Our decision to prosecute was considered carefully in accordance with the DPP’s guidelines on the public interest in cases affecting the media. These guidelines require prosecutors to consider whether the public interest served by the conduct in question outweighs the overall criminality before bringing criminal proceedings.”

Ms Levitt said Mr Shanahan would appear before Westminster magistrates on 8 May and appealed to the media not to report anything further about the case which might prejudice a fair trial.

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