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A journalist who investigated the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings will not have to hand over his notes to police after they launched a legal bid to force him to reveal his sources.
Chris Mullin, 74, challenged an application by West Midlands Police to require him to disclose source material dating back to his investigation in 1985 and 1986.
Speaking after an Old Bailey judge ruled he would not have to hand over the material, Mr Mullin said he was ‘grateful’ for the judge’s decision, adding that the right of a journalist to protect sources is ‘fundamental to a free press in a democracy’.
In his book, Error Of Judgement – and a series of documentaries – Mr Mullin helped expose one of the worst miscarriages of justice, leading to the release of the Birmingham Six after their convictions were quashed in 1991.
Twenty-one people were killed in the IRA bomb attack on two pubs in Birmingham on November 21 1974.
West Midlands Police used the Terrorism Act to bring the production order application.
Mr Mullin is also a former Labour MP and served as a junior minister under Prime Minister Tony Blair. He left Parliament in 2010 after 23 years as an MP.
Journalist Chris Mullin, who investigated the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings, will not have to hand over his notes to police after they launched a legal bid to force him to reveal his sources
The Birmingham Six (left to right: William Power, Richard McIlkenny, John Walker, Gerry Hunter, Paddy Hill and Hugh Callaghan) outside the Old Bailey in London after their convictions were quashed in 1991
Despite being one of the deadliest acts of the Troubles, no-one has been convicted of the murders of the 21 victims. Above: Fireman look for survivors in the wreckage of the Mulberry Bush pub
Handing down his ruling on Tuesday morning, the Recorder of London Judge Mark Lucraft said: ‘I decline to grant the production order sought.’
Mr Mullin said: ‘I am grateful to Judge Lucraft for his decision.
‘The right of a journalist to protect his or her sources is fundamental to a free press in a democracy. My actions in this case were overwhelmingly in the public interest.
‘They led to the release of six innocent men after 17 years in prison, the winding up of the notorious West Midlands Serious Crimes Squad and the quashing of a further 30 or so wrongful convictions.
Chris Mullins’ book casting doubt on the convictions of the Birmingham Six
Mullin’s book was published in 1986, 11 years after the Birmingham Six had been found guilty of murder.
In 1985, Mullin had investigated the case for Granada TV’s World in Action series.
The programmes cast doubt on the convictions and Mr Mullin then laid out a detailed case in his book supporting the men’s claims that they were innocent of what they had been convicted of.
Mullin’s book was published in 1986, 11 years after the Birmingham Six had been found guilty of murder
He also claimed in his book to have met some of the men who were actually responsible.
Soon after the book was published, Home Secretary Douglas Hurd referred the case to the Court of Appeal.
Whilst judges initially ruled in 1988 that the convictions of the Birmingham Six were safe, a further series of newspaper articles and documentaries brought forward further evidence that the convictions were unsafe.
A second appeal was allowed in 1991 and it was then that the convictions were ruled unsafe and unsatisfactory. That same year, the men walked free.
‘This case also resulted in the setting up a Royal Commission which, among other reforms, led to the setting up of the Criminal Cases Review Commission and the quashing of another 500 or more wrongful convictions.
‘My investigation is also the main reason why the identity of three of the four bombers is known.
‘Finally, I am grateful to the National Union of Journalists for their unswerving support and also to my legal representatives, Louis Charalambous and Gavin Millar QC.’
Mr Mullin’s solicitor said the judgment was a ‘landmark’ for freedom of expression.
Louis Charalambous, of Simons Muirhead Burton, said: ‘This is a landmark freedom of expression decision which properly recognises the public interest in Chris Mullin’s journalism which led to the release of the Birmingham Six.
‘If a confidential source cannot rely on a journalist’s promise of lifelong protection then these investigations will never see the light of day.’
The National Union of Journalists’ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet, who was pictured with Mr Mullin outside court today, said: ‘This judgment is a hopeful beacon at a time when we rely more than ever on dependable news, despite journalists facing mounting legal challenges.
‘Few reporters have been more courageous and dogged than Chris Mullin, nor have they been so spectacularly vindicated.
‘This case threatened press freedom and amounted to another attempt to criminalise the legitimate actions of journalists. In refusing this production order, the judge has recognised the principle that the NUJ will always defend – that protecting sources underpins every journalist’s ability to report.
‘I hope that West Midlands Police now chooses to devote its many powers to amassing sufficient credible evidence to secure a conviction for those terrible bombings.’
It emerged at the Old Bailey that a man involved in the bombings made a ‘full confession’ to the murders in an interview with Mr Mullin.
The court heard that Mr Mullin refused to identify the bomb planter, who was referred to only as AB.
James Lewis QC, representing West Midlands Police, told the Old Bailey last month: ‘Mr Mullin refuses to identify him because he says he promised AB he would not reveal his identity.’
The barrister said redactions and omissions in material handed to police were to protect the identity of AB.
‘It’s quite clear that the whole purpose of the redactions was to prevent the identity of AB,’ he said.
Mr Lewis told the court that Mr Mullin conducted a four-hour interview with AB and made contemporaneous notes.
The Birmingham pub bombing victims: (top row, left to right) Michael Beasley, 30, Stan Bodman, 47, James Craig, 34, Paul Davies, 17, Trevor Thrupp, 33, Desmond Reilly, 20 and James Caddick, 40, (second row, left to right) Maxine Hambleton, 18, Jane Davis, 17, Maureen Roberts, 20, Lynn Bennett, 18, Anne Hayes, 18, Marilyn Nash, 22 and Pamela Palmer, 19, (bottom row, left to right) Thomas Chaytor, 28, Eugene Reilly, 23, Stephen Whalley, 21, John Rowlands, 46, John ‘Cliff’ Jones, 51, Charles Gray, 44, and Neil Marsh, 16 (no picture available
The barrister described the confession from AB as voluntary, accurate and reliable, adding: ‘In short it is a full confession to the murders.’
He pointed out that this was not a third party disclosing information in the public interest.
‘This is the murderer himself confessing,’ he said.
Talking about redactions, Mr Lewis said: ‘It’s not simply redactions, but pages have been omitted to protect AB’s identity.’
Mr Lewis said the confession is a ‘paradigm example of something that is likely to be of substantial value to the investigation’.
He said the benefit of the confession is ‘enormous’ and said it would outweigh that AB had extracted ‘a promise of anonymity’.
Source: DUK News
