the prosecution of journalists is the hallmark of ‘oppressive regimes’ such as russia and egypt, which try to crush free speech and a free press, the old bailey heard yesterday the claim was made by trevor burke, qc, in his closing speech on behalf of sun chief reporter john kay, who is accused of paying a ministry of defence official for stories mr burke described kay, 71, as a ‘legend of fleet street’ who is being prosecuted ‘for simply doing his job’ the prosecution of journalists is the hallmark of ‘oppressive regimes’ such as russia and egypt, which try to crush free speech and a free press, the old bailey (pictured) heard yesterday  his articles revealed bullying, crime and sexual assault within the military, the jury was told his qc said: ‘please recognise how disturbing a development it is that journalists that only report the news accurately, honestly and fearlessly now face being prosecuted in our criminal courts ‘from john kay’s perspective that is exactly what’s happening right here’ mr burke told jurors they would be ‘all too familiar with journalists being silenced by courts’ and spoke of oppressive regimes such as russia and egypt that sought to crush a free press and free speech ‘you might be aware of events in moscow over the weekend, where a free press has long ceased to exist,’ he said ‘it never did in china ‘and we have seen in recent years protests – people demanding a fraction of the rights we enjoy here, which include but are not restricted to a free press’ mr burke said the jury would have to rule on public interest ‘it is the very basic function of a journalist in a free society to report the news without fear or favour,’ he said ‘to expose hypocrisy and to reveal the truth’ mr burke told the jury how the press had exposed child sex abuse in rotherham as well as the mps’ expenses scandal the public official who leaked the documents revealing the expenses story has not been prosecuted, the court heard ‘nobody could ever conceivably justify a prosecution of the official because of the overwhelming public interest,’ mr burke said ‘paying an official can be trumped by a public interest defence’ mr burke said kay saw it as his ‘fundamental duty to hold the powerful to account and to speak for those who have no voice’ ‘he saw it as his role to expose, to correct, to reveal the very truth,’ he said ‘if john kay and his profession do not do it on your behalf who will?’ the trial has heard that mod official bettina jordan barber, 42, was paid £100,000 by the sun while working as a strategy officer who briefed the defence secretary and that kay knew she was a public official mr burke described the sum paid to jordan barber as ‘compensation’ for the risk she ran in losing her job if her bosses found out she was leaking information to the press ‘the public interest was part of her motivation,’ he added also on trial is sun royal correspondent duncan larcombe, 39, who is accused of paying ex sandhurst colour sergeant john hardy, 44, for details about the army base where prince harry trained hardy funnelled some of the 34 payments totalling £23,000 through his 41 year old wife claire, the court has heard sun executive editor fergus shanahan, 60, is accused of plotting to pay a public official for stories and deputy editor geoff webster, 55, is accused of authorising payments worth thousands of pounds to public officials in return for information all four sun journalists deny charges of conspiring to commit misconduct in public office hardy, of accrington, lancashire, denies misconduct in public office his wife claire denies aiding and abetting misconduct in public office the trial continues sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article
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