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People sports editor fired for financial irregularity

By Press Gazette

Police are investigating an allegation of financial wrongdoing after People sports editor Lee Horton was fired following an internal investigation.

Trinity Mirror confirmed today it dismissed Horton this week following an internal investigation into financial irregularities. It is understood that the investigation was launched over a sum, thought to be six figures, that had been paid out of the contacts budget over a number of years.

A police spokeswoman said that officers from Tower Hamlets CID are “investigating an allegation of obtaining money via false representation” relating to a 52-year-old man.

A Trinity Mirror spokesman today confirmed that ‘Lee Horton has been dismissed from The People following the conclusion of an internal investigation into financial irregularities”.

Horton, a popular character in the newsroom, was suspended last month after the Beijing Olympics, pending the internal investigation.

The sports editor role is now being filled by sports desk staffer James Brown.

Press Gazette was unable to contact Horton at the time of publication.

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