Operation Elveden: CPS drops charges against nine journalists of making illegal payments to public officials

An urgent review of the £20m probe resulted in the CPS scrapping charges against all but three of the 12 reporters who were still facing trial or retrial

From left, the ‘Sun’ reporters Neil Millard and Tom Wells, and Graham Brough, formerly of the ‘Daily Mirror’, leaving the Old Bailey after they were cleared of charges of paying officials for stories (PA)

The Crown Prosecution Service has dropped charges against nine journalists accused of making illegal payments to public officials, in a major victory for critics of the Operation Elveden inquiry.

An urgent review of the £20m probe resulted in the CPS scrapping charges against all but three of the 12 reporters who were still facing trial or retrial later this year.

A total of 27 journalists had been charged under Elveden. So far, just two journalists have been found guilty.

The Court of Appeal quashed the conviction of the first - a News of the World reporter who can now be named as Lucy Panton - and gave the second leave to appeal.

The retrial of ex-News of the World editor Andy Coulson and its former royal editor Clive Goodman, on a charge of buying royal telephone directories from police officers, which was due to take place in June, is among the cases now abandoned by the CPS.

The CPS said: “Taking into account a number of circumstances, including the custodial sentences which have already been served by the defendants and the time since the alleged offending, we have concluded that there is no longer a public interest in prosecuting both defendants and accordingly, we offer no evidence.”

Coulson, who also worked as director of communications for David Cameron, served nearly five months in jail for conspiracy to hack phones.

The announcement followed another reversal for the CPS, with three journalists found not guilty of illegally paying public officials by a jury at the Old Bailey.

Ex-Daily Mirror reporter Graham Brough and Neil Millard and Brandon Malinsky of The Sun were cleared of conspiring to commit misconduct in public office.

Another Sun reporter Tom Wells was also cleared of two counts. The jury was discharged after failing to agree verdicts on a third charge against Mr Wells and one count against ex-immigration officer Mark Blake.

Police and prosecutors spent millions of pounds on Elveden, pursuing journalists under the little-known 13th century law of misconduct in a public office.

Although the law was used to prosecute public officials in the past, it had not been used against reporters until the Metropolitan Police launched their investigation in 2011 in the wake of the hacking scandal.

The cases dropped on Friday include those of The Sun journalists Vince Soodin, Ben O'Driscoll and former managing editor Graham Dudman.

Prosecutions will continue against their colleagues Jamie Pyatt, Chris Pharo and Anthony France. Ex-News of the World reporter Ryan Sabey will no longer stand trial.

Speaking after he was cleared by a jury, Mr Brough said: “I hope these acquittals will remove the fear currently freezing investigative journalism which is the lifeblood of any democracy. I am greatly relieved that professional reporters have not been criminalised today.”

Mr Malinsky said the police should stop “persecuting innocent journalists” and concentrate on criminals.

Announcing the outcome of the Eleveden review, the CPS said: “The importance of a free press is paramount in any democracy and the prosecutions against the journalists involved were considered very carefully.

“This was not an investigation into whistle blowers acting to expose matters of public importance out of a sense of civic duty – the 21 convictions of public officials to date show that these were the actions of corrupt individuals motivated by greed and self-interest.”

The decision to drop a number of cases should not be taken as “an indication that payment to a public official by a journalist is acceptable behaviour or immune from prosecution – any case referred to us for consideration of criminal charges will be very carefully considered on its own facts and merits in accordance with published guidance.”