News UK has confirmed that Sun managing editor Richard Caseby is leaving after 24 years with News UK and News International.
News Corporation executive chairman Rupert Murdoch paid personal tribute to Caseby in a statement saying: "Richard has been a loyal and distinguished executive, primarily on The Sunday Times but most recently on The Sun, guiding it skilfully through a turbulent period.
"I thank him for his passionate defence of our company and staff, and especially his astute counsel during the Leveson Inquiry. He is a steadfast colleague and one I have been glad to have fighting our corner.
"I am sure that Richard will continue to be a great success in whatever he decides to do for the future."
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Caseby said: "Rupert is a brilliant and counter intuitive leader. It has been an honour to work for him and his great newspaper titles."
Caseby was managing editor of The Sunday Times for 13 years before being made joint managing editor of The Sun and the News of the World by then chief executive Rebekah Brooks, then News Corp Europe boss James Murdoch, at the end of June 2011. This was just weeks before the hacking scandal erupted with The Guardian revelation that the News of the World had listened to the phone-messages of missing schoolgirl Milly Dowler.
Caseby was replaced in that job on an interim basis for 11 months by David Dinsmore from December 2011, as he worked full-time on dealing with News International’s response to the Leveson Inquiry.
News of his expected departure was first reported by Press Gazette on 1 July. His exit came shortly after the appointment of Dinsmore as Sun editor.
It was confirmed today that another long-serving News UK staffer is leaving the company. Times deputy editor Keith Blackmore has left after 26 years with the company.
News UK said in a statement: "After serving as The Sunday Times managing editor for 13 years, Richard was asked to manage the widening crisis caused by voicemail interception.
"He stabilised The Sun, introduced new governance and training for its staff, appointed an independent ombudsman to the title, was a key member of the Sunday edition launch team and supported all the journalists involved in police investigations.
"He also became the lead executive preparing News International's submissions and evidence on behalf of The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times to the Leveson Inquiry into the Culture Practice and Ethics of the Press.
"During his time on The Sun and The Sunday Times he successfully restructured editorial operations to make them more efficient and more responsive to digital audiences.
"On The Sun he forged a partnership with Shine's latest digital acquisition, Channel Flip, to produce video for web and apps. On The Sunday Times he assembled the team that created the multi award-winning Sunday Times iPad app in 2010 on the Woodwing platform, now known as Adobe DPS. That app release was voted the world's best newspaper app in the iMonitor awards.
"Richard served in many roles on The Sunday Times, including head of news, in charge of home news, politics, foreign news and investigations. He also launched the Driving and Home supplements.
"He was a director of Times Newspapers Holdings Limited for over a decade and co-founded The Sunday Times Best Companies to Work For competition, the UK's biggest survey of workplace satisfaction."
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