Investigative journalist and crime author, Graham Johnson, has had his application for permission to appeal against sentence heard in the Court of Appeal. Mr Johnson is a whistle-blower who exposed illegal practices at tabloid newspapers but was later convicted after voluntarily coming forward with evidence to assist the police in their criminal investigations. Mr Johnson made his application for permission to appeal more than 6 years after his sentencing. His application for permission to appeal was made on the grounds his sentence had been wrong in principle and was manifestly excessive given his position as a whistle-blower. The matter was referred to the full Court by Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb. While the Court of Appeal recognised that the assistance Mr Johnson gave to the media, to police and to phone-hacking victims “was much to his credit” and that it was right to say he was in a different category from others who had been convicted for phone hacking, his application for an extension of time to apply for permission to appeal was refused.
Mr Johnson revealed phone hacking at Mirror Group Newspapers in 2013 and later voluntarily told police about his own role in phone hacking in relation to one story, as well as what he knew of the widespread practice within the tabloid media. Despite the evidence he gave the police, the prosecuting authorities took no action against the senior executives and editors he had implicated. Instead, Mr Johnson was arrested and prosecuted....
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