Two of the Sun’s most senior journalists have quit the paper in the wake of a three-year legal battle that saw them tried and acquitted of charges in relation to payments for stories.
Graham Dudman, the former managing editor of the Sun, and John Edwards, the paper’s picture editor, chose to sever ties with the paper after the lengthy ordeal.
“The past three years have been an incredibly difficult time, and the right thing for me and my family is to now move on to a fresh start. Nothing stays the same for ever and all good things come to an end,” said Dudman, who, like Edwards, was given a choice of returning to the publisher or negotiating a severance deal.
They were both tried last year in Kingston crown court after News International (now News UK) handed over millions of internal company emails to the Metropolitan police as part of its Operation Elveden investigation into payments to public officials for tips and stories.
Dudman was cleared of two charges while two other charges against him were dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service months later.
He spent more than 20 years working on the paper in various roles, including Moscow correspondent, head of news, news editor, features editor and managing editor. He is now considering his next move.
Edwards was cleared of two charges of conspiring to commit misconduct in public office. He had been with the Sun for 27 years, 15 of them as picture editor.
In all, 27 journalists were charged under Operation Elveden, the vast majority of them from the Sun.
Dudman and Edwards spent nearly three years out of the office. Like all of the Sun journalists, they were suspended on full pay.
During his two years’ suspension from work, Dudman became a regular fixture at News Associates Training Centre in Wimbledon, where he worked on a voluntary basis teaching journalism students. He said: “I am looking forward to reentering the world of work after such a long break.”
News UK’s human resources director, Derrick Crowley, said Dudman had made an “enormous contribution” to the paper.
