Linda Townley, a founder of the media ethics charity, PressWise (now MediaWise), has died from cancer.
She helped to set up PressWise following bad behaviour by newspapers when she was falsely accused - initially by the now-defunct title, Today - of stealing Princess Anne's love letters while working as a royal maid.
Her fight to clear her name was complicated by the fact that she could not obtain legal aid for fighting a libel action.
However, by transforming the action into one of malicious falsehood, she was able to draw on legal aid funding. Her pioneering case was handled by the media lawyer Mark Stephens.
It was also the subject of parliamentary comment (see here and here) during a period in which the press came under intense pressure over examples of intrusions into privacy and harassment.
Once her name had been cleared, Linda decided to help other people she termed as "victims of the media abuse".
Helped by her brother, David Joyce, she conceived of PressWise and went on to chair it for many years.
Mike Jempson, who has been the PressWise/MediaWise director since its inception, said: "Without Linda's tenacity and goodwill, I doubt that we would have got PressWise off the ground."
Linda went on to start a family, stand as a Labour councillor and become active in community and charity work.
Her funeral will take place next Friday, 3 December. More details when I have them.
