Reading-based news agency INS celebrated a world exclusive this week, after scooping an interview with the sons of jailed Canoe couple John and Anne Darwin.

INS deputy editor Tom Hendry said all the nationals were chasing an interview with the Darwin boys as the trial of their parents neared completion at Teesside Crown Court.

He said: ‘There were six-figure sums being bandied around and the bidding was fierce. I had spent five months talking to Mark and Anthony and gaining their confidence. They were very, very suspicious of the media following days of being doorstepped at the time the canoe story broke.