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June 12, 2003updated 17 May 2007 11:30am

Haywood’s final farewell

By Press Gazette

Award-winning Sunday Mercury news editor Bob Haywood marked his retirement with a bash for more than 200 people. During his 43 years in Midlands journalism, Haywood, 59, helped jail scores of crooks, conmen and corrupt business bosses.

He was just 16 when he joined the Smethwick Telephone as a trainee reporter and went on to become Sunday Mercury news editor in 1985.

Regularly the subject of death threats from those who would rather their criminal activities remained secret, he was once confronted by the sledgehammer-wielding relative of a serial killer he’d helped expose.

He was twice named BT Midlands Journalist of the Year and in 1999 was Trinity Mirror’s Reporter of the Year. In 2002, Haywood was shortlisted for Reporter of the Year at the Press Gazette Regional Press Awards.

Mercury editor David Brookes said: “Bob is a damn good journalist who has continued to shop dodgy fraudsters, uncover paedophile priests and nail evil conmen right up to his last day at work.”

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