View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Media Law
August 18, 2014updated 19 Aug 2014 5:28pm

The Sun paid £1,600 to mother of policeman for news of actor’s suicide attempt

By PA Mediapoint

A former Metropolitan Police officer who used his mother to help him sell The Sun a story about a British soap star's attempted suicide has been jailed for 12 months, it can now be reported.

Thomas Ridgeway, 31, passed on two stories to the tabloid, one about the actor, who tried to kill himself in a London hotel, and another about alleged sexual activity by police officers at a pub.

He used his mother Sandra Ridgeway as a conduit to the newspaper to pay off money he owed her, a court was told.

The former PC, of Wallington, Surrey, admitted two offences of misconduct in public office and was jailed in May.

His plea can be reported after his 55-year-old mother of New Malden, Surrey, admitted one count of aiding and abetting her son to commit misconduct in a public office.

She wept in the dock as judge Charles Wide QC sentenced her to 18 weeks in jail, suspended for 26 weeks, and ordered her to pay £1,000 costs.

At the earlier hearing, Old Bailey Judge Richard Marks QC had told he son: "This sort of offending, as you will understand, is far too serious to be dealt with in any other way than a sentence of immediate imprisonment."

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

Thomas Ridgeway  had betrayed the trust reposed in him by reason of his office by providing confidential information for money, the judge said.

"The first occurred as long ago as 2004, when a well known British actor, whilst in a hotel room in London, made an attempt on his own life," the judge said.

Ridgeway, who was based at Kennington, south London, did not attend the incident but worked on the response team that did.

The judge told him: "It appears that in the aftermath of this incident, one of your colleagues said, 'that will be in The Sun before long' and it was that which gave you the idea to sell the story."

He had decided to involve his mother and to use her as a conduit to the paper.

"They were, not unnaturally, very interested in the story and paid your mother a total of £1,600, of which she gave you half," the judge said.

One of the consequences of this publicity was that the individual in question, who was by definition in a very vulnerable state of mind, became, as he put it, very paranoid about who was responsible for the information getting into the press, he said.

The actor also thought that the publicity and his concern surrounding it had hampered his recovery.

The second offence, in July 2009, involved The Sun running stories about the alleged sexual conduct of off-duty Lambeth police officers and a police civilian employee in a pub in Kennington.

The judge said: "It appears that you learned of this as a result of gossip around the police station, you were not yourself present at the pub when these events are alleged to have occurred, and once again you decided to pass this information to The Sun for financial gain."

Again Ridgeway involved his mother and, as a consequence of two articles appearing in the newspaper, a total of £1,000 was paid for the information.

Ridgeway confirmed to the newspaper the name of the civilian employee said to have been involved, as well as the fact that there was an internal police investigation.

Judge Marks said Ridgeway was of previous good character and served with the police from September 2002.

"You have lost your career and lost your good character," he told him.

"You effectively had two paymasters, as the prosecution put it – your employers, the Metropolitan Police, and The Sun."

There were two aggravating features – the vulnerability of the actor and the fact that Ridgeway had involved his mother.

In mitigation, it was argued that he had been frank with the police and pleaded guilty. The judge added: "Nobody could fail to be impressed by the substantial amount of references with which I have been provided, and which speak about you in the highest possible terms."

He sentenced Ridgeway to 12 months on count one, and three months on count two, with the sentences to be concurrent, making 12 months in all.

Topics in this article :

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network