Telegraph: splash from August 2002
The Grimsby Telegraph may have played a key role in the arrest of Ian Huntley.
It won Scoop of the Year at the Regional Press Awards for its August 2002 splash “Local Couple Quizzed”.
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Only now can it be revealed that the Telegraph alerted police to one of the previous sexual allegations against Huntley. A reader called the paper after recognising Huntley when he was interviewed on TV news.
Reporter Zoe Corney searched the paper’s archives and found out that in 1998 Huntley appeared in the Telegraph when charged with rape.
The paper rang the police on a Friday morning and Huntley and Carr were picked up that afternoon.
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Huntley had four previous complaints against him of having sex with under-age girls and three allegations of rape. It is understood that only an allegation of burglary was placed on the police national computer.
One hour after the verdict was announced on Wednesday, the Grimsby paper had gone to press with eight pages of live news, a 32-page supplement on Huntley and a 12-page supplement on Carr.
The Cambridge Evening News, which covers Soham, put together a 20-page special on the trial within 90 minutes of the verdict. It went up from 52 to 72 pages and the team managed to hit the usual 1.30pm final deadline.
By Dominic Ponsford
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