DECEMBER 4, 2013 - NATIONAL NEWSPAPERS - NEWS

Journalist of the Year Michael Gillard unable to attend London events after exposing gangster

Journalist of the Year Michael Gillard could not accept his award in person at the British Journalism Awards on Monday night, partly because he can no longer attend public events in London since exposing gangster David Hunt in the Sunday Times.

Instead his friend and journalistic collaborator Laurie Flynn accepted the award on his behalf – dedicating it in part to the whistleblowers from inside the police and elsewhere who come forward to tell the truth in the public interest.

Gillard was recognised for an 11-year investigation into gangster David Hunt which culminated in a libel victory against him in July of this year which enabled the paper to expose the full extent of his criminal activities.

Gillard first described Hunt as the “head of a criminal network which Scotland Yard regards as too big to take on” in the Sunday Times in May 2010.

This prompted Hunt to sue and Gillard to contact the Met Police because Hunt was demanding access to leaked police files. The Met’s response was to launch a mole-hunt and its own legal action seeking recovery of the documents and an order banning the Sunday Times from using them.

The Sunday Times won that legal battle in November 2011.