NightJack blogger to sue Times over email hacking

The detective who was identified as the author of an anonymous prize-winning blog on policing after a reporter from The Times hacked into his email account is to sue the newspaper, it was reported last night.

Detective Constable Richard Horton, who won the Orwell prize for political journalism in 2009 for his NightJack blog on policing, was outed by The Times shortly after he took the award. Last month the newspaper's editor, James Harding, admitted to the Leveson Inquiry that DC Horton's name had been uncovered after one of his reporters, later identified as Patrick Foster, had hacked into his emails.

DC Horton had applied for his anonymity to be protected, only for the High Court to turn down his request.

But during his second appearance before Lord Justice Leveson earlier this week, Mr Harding said evidence that DC Horton had been identified via email hacking – which could potentially have led Mr Justice Eady to instead decide to prevent the blogger's name from being published – had been witheld from the High Court. Mr Harding said he had only been made aware of the full extent of the hacking in the last 10 days, however.

According to The Guardian, Horton has now instructed his lawyer to pursue the newspaper for damages.