At the time of giving evidence, Desmond was the owner of Express Newspapers and founder of Northern & Shell, which also published celebrity magazines such as OK! and New!. Desmond gave examples of how the group dealt with moral and ethical questions. He cited his decision not to run a false story about the parentage of a member of the Royal family. Desmond told the Inquiry he was not familiar with the Editors' Code of Practice and considered it something as a proprietor he did not need to know about. All editorial decisions were left to the Express's editors, he said, including the paper's decision to stop backing Tony Blair and return to backing the Conservative Party.
Editor of the Daily Star since 2003 at the time of giving evidence. Neesom worked on Woman’s Own, before joining The Sun as feature writer and later features editor. Told the Inquiry that in 2011 the paper had withdrawn from the PCC believing that the body had ceased trying to resolve disputes and its decisions had become more political. The paper would not use material that it believed to be illegally sourced, she said.
Head of Legal at Express Newspapers at the time of giving evidence. Responsible for the provision of editorial legal services across the company, for both print and digital. Her evidence revealed that the Express continued to use the services of, and make payments to, the private investigator Steve Whittamore five years after he had pleaded guilty to illegally accessing data.
Editor of the Daily Express at the time of the Inquiry, having worked previously at The Sun, Daily Star and Daily Star Sunday. He supported Express Newspapers' withdrawal from the PCC, in part because of what he perceived as failures by the PCC to intervene over Madeleine McCann stories published in his own newspaper. He would never break the law intentionally, he told the Inquiry.
Daily newspaper in the UK, first published as a broadsheet in 1900. Acquired by Richard Desmond in 2000. Hugh Whittow was appointed editor in 2011. He told the Inquiry that “ethics play a big role in the Daily Express” and all journalists adhered to the Editors Code of Practice. He admitted to some misleading statistics about the EU and a fabricated story about the banning of salt.
