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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales High Court (Queen's Bench Division) Decisions >> Hamilton v News Group Newspapers Ltd [2020] EWHC 59 (QB) (20 January 2020) URL: https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/QB/2020/59.html Cite as: [2020] EWHC 59 (QB), [2020] EMLR 12 |
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QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS LIST
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL |
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B e f o r e :
____________________
Tina Hamilton |
Claimant |
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- and - |
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News Group Newspapers Limited |
Defendant |
____________________
Anthony Hudson QC (instructed by Simons Muirhead & Burton LLP) for the Defendant
____________________
Crown Copyright ©
Mr Justice Warby:
Procedural history
"Paper" determination
The preliminary issue
The words complained of
Print version
"TAMING OF THE SCREW
Jail officer quits after lag 'fling'
EXCLUSIVE by TOM WELLS, Chief Reporter
[1] A PRISON officer quit her job while being investigated for an alleged fling with a lag she was guarding.
[2] Mum-of-two Tina Hamilton, 31, resigned during a probe into claims that she had fallen for burglar Perry Middlemass behind bars.
[3] But The Sun can reveal she has seen the thief, 23, after leaving her job and even visiting him in jail on Valentine's Day.
[4] Last night Tina insisted she quit over "childcare issues" and denied misconduct. She said she was pals with Middlemass as she had "worked" with him at HMP Wandsworth in South West London.
[5] A source said: "The investigation related to an allegation of an inappropriate relationship between Tina and a prisoner. She resigned before it concluded."
[6] Jail chiefs launched a probe last December after reports of inappropriate behaviour in a cell.
[7] It was referred to Scotland Yard, but cops reportedly ruled there was too little evidence to pursue a criminal case.
[8] Tina, of Plaistow, East London, quit the Prison Service on December 13.
[9] Middlemass, serving seven years, was moved to another jail soon after. A Prison Service spokesman said: "We take all allegations of staff misconduct very seriously."
Online version
"Prison Officer quits her job amid claims she had a fling with burglar she was guarding
Tina Hamilton resigned while being investigated for an alleged fling with a burglar she was later seen visiting in jail on Valentine's Day"
"Tina Hamilton quit her job as a prison officer during an investigation where it was claimed she had a fling with a lag"
"The mum-of-two visited the 23-year-old burglar in jail on Valentine's Day and she was pals with Middlemass as she had "worked" with him at HMP Wandsworth"
"Tina has insisted that she quit her job because of 'childcare issues' and denied misconduct".
Legal principles
"[The] rule holds that the meaning of a reported allegation is normally the same as the meaning of a direct allegation; and a defendant cannot establish the truth of such a publication by proving merely that the allegation was indeed made."
The rival contentions
"the claimant has, alternatively there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the Claimant has, committed a criminal offence by engaging in a sexual relationship with an inmate while she was a prison officer"
"the Claimant had, alternatively there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the Claimant had, engaged in an inappropriate relationship with an inmate whilst she was a prisoner officer"
"the claimant had resigned as a prison officer during an investigation into an allegation that she had engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a prisoner"
alternatively, that
"there were grounds to investigate whether the Claimant had engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a prisoner whilst she was working as a prison officer"
Discussion
(1) the sheer weight of reported allegations, seemingly from several sources ("claims" [2]; "reports" [6]);
(2) the reported admission by the claimant that she had been "pals" with Middlemass (paragraph [4]);
(3) the reported fact that the claimant resigned "during" the investigation; the article identifies the date of the "probe" as December, and the claimant's resignation as 13 December, suggesting that she resigned swiftly after the investigation began, and because of the investigation; this all suggests a quick move, borne of a guilty wish to avoid the investigation reaching any or any adverse conclusion whilst she remained in post;
(4) the purported revelation by The Sun (in paragraph [3] and one of the captions), of a continuing relationship between the claimant and Middlemass after her resignation, including a visit by her on Valentine's Day, some three months afterwards; this is an important contribution to the story, coming from the publisher itself, and any reasonable reader would attribute weight to it as an indication that there was in fact a relationship, strong enough to last for months, and for the claimant to "go public" about it, to this extent;
(5) the use of quotation marks around "childcare issues" and "worked" (in paragraph [4] and the corresponding photo captions); this is not a case of reporting in quotation marks the claimant's entire answer to the allegations, claims and reports; it is a selective use of quotation marks as a device to indicate commentary by the publisher, and is redolent of scepticism about the claimant's account of things;
(6) the word "insisted", which the ordinary reader would take as an indication of "protesting too much", a further indication of a guilty conscience;
(7) the photographs, in which the claimant looks shifty.
Conclusion
"the Claimant committed serious misconduct in her role as a prison officer by engaging in an emotional and physical relationship with an inmate."