Mike Jempson reminds us of a tragic incident back in 1987 when a young man was killed beneath the wheels of a newspaper lorry in Wapping, How did Michael Delaney die, Mr Murdoch?
The death of 19-year-old Delaney, and what happened in the aftermath, takes on a new import in view of the revelations about the relationship between the Metropolitan police and News International.
On the evening of 10 January 1987, he was on his way home after drinking with friends to celebrate his birthday of the previous week.
At the junction of Butcher Row and Commercial Road in Stepney, the lads spotted a TNT lorry used by News International to distribute papers during the bitter Wapping dispute that had been going on for a year.
When they lorry stopped at the red light, they shouted at the driver, calling him a "scab". Delaney got close enough to slap the door but, as the lorry moved off, he was dragged underneath and crushed by the wheels.
While he lay dying in hospital his friends were undergoing questioning at a local police station.
The driver did not stop until he reached Heston Services on the M4 and only then reported the accident to police.
At Delaney's inquest in Snaresbrook, Essex, in April 1987, the jury were advised by the coroner to return a verdict of accidental death.
Instead, they decided it was a case of unlawful killing. Afterwards, the director of public prosecutions ruled against launching a prosecution on the grounds of insufficient evidence. A year later the inquest verdict itself was quashed in the high court.
Jempson, then an East London Advertiser reporter, a Wapping resident and someone who had known Delaney since he was a child, believes the story should be told to the Leveson Inquiry. He writes:
"Given what is now known about the unhealthily close relationships between News International and the Metropolitan police over the years, the whole sad saga deserves a full investigation...
The big question still to be answered is whether law officers and Murdoch's News International conspired to avoid a prosecution that might have revealed how and why Michael Delaney died."
Sources: OpenDemocracy/East London Advertiser/The Herald/Belfast Telegraph
