Lawyers for Sun deputy editor Geoff Webster have revealed that they twice asked the Crown Prosecution Service to reconsider its case against their client.
Webster, 55, was acquitted on Friday along with three Sun colleagues after a three-month trial.
He was accused of signing off payments to John Kay's Ministry of Defence source. Webster told the court: "John would let you know a source was 'ace', 'top-notch', 'gold-plated', whatever. He would never, ever tell you he had a strictly average source."
The CPS is today facing questions over its decision to pursue journalists over allegations of misconduct in public office. So far there nine journalists have been found not guilty of this charge, seven face retrials after juries failed to reach a decision and two have been found guilty.
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Janes Solicitors said in a statement: "We wish to place on record that on two previous occasions, going back as far as January 2013, we requested that the CPS review the case against Mr Webster.
"The CPS were pointed to the inherent difficulties in prosecuting our client for what Counsel Mr Geoffrey Cox QC has described as a 'lunatic' offence: the vagueness, the disproportionality of criminal sanctions and the lack of any evidence that our client had the requisite knowledge to be convicted of a criminal conspiracy.
"Those representations were rejected by the CPS. Perhaps in hindsight they would take a different view.
"Our client’s hope is that the CPS will reflect on events and reconsider its decision to pursue prosecutions against Mr Webster’s colleagues in the remaining Operation Elveden cases."
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