Jury retires in Jon Venables prison leaks trial of Star’s Tom Savage and NoW reporter

The jury has retired to consider verdicts in the trial of reporters from the Daily Star Sunday and News of the World.

The Star's Tom Savage, 37, and a NoW reporter, who cannot be named for legal reasons, are charged with conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office.

Alongside them in the dock are prison officer Scott Chapman, 42, who is accused of selling stories about James Bulger killer Jon Venables to a host of newspapers.

He allegedly made £40,000 from feeding tips to tabloids after Venables was sent back to prison for child porn offences in 2010.

He is charged with misconduct in a public office with his ex-partner Lynn Gaffney, 40, of Corby, Northamptonshire, who allegedly channelled money via her bank account for him.

During the trial at the Old Bailey, Chapman said he first contacted The Sun about Venables because he was unhappy about the way he was given special treatment and then turned to other newspapers in an attempt to stop his Sun contact "pestering" him.

In his evidence, Savage, of South London, said it never occurred to him the source he knew as Adam was in fact a serving prison officer but if he had known, it would not have mattered "in the slightest".

The NoW journalist also denied knowing the anonymous source's identity and told jurors that it was in the public interest that the newspaper exposed Venables' "comfortable" lifestyle behind bars.

All the defendants deny the charges against them.

The jury retired to consider its verdicts at around 3.30pm yesterday and was sent home for the night an hour later.