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March 17, 2005updated 22 Nov 2022 2:41pm

Sunday Telegraph refutes blackmail charge

By Press Gazette

Dominic Ponsford
The Sunday Telegraph has refuted the allegation that it “blackmailed”
Nottingham Chief Constable Steve Green into giving the paper a
sensational interview this week.
Green told The Sunday Telegraph his force was
being overwhelmed by violent crime and could need to “farm out” murder
inquiries to other forces.
Nottingham Labour MP Graham Allen claimed The
Sunday Telegraph had threatened to reveal details of police covert
operations unless the Chief Constable agreed to the interview.
Sunday Telegraph editor Dominic Lawson has
refuted Allen’s “scurrilous suggestion”.
He said that the paper had discovered details of a covert police action
which was already badly compromised a month ago. According to Lawson,
the publication of an article about the operation was delayed in a
spirit of goodwill and he said that the Green interview was previously
agreed.
The Sunday Telegraph achieved a huge sales uplift
on Sunday, although it was probably more due to the fact it included a
cover-mounted DVD of the film Last Orders than to the news content.
The sale for Sunday is estimated to have increased by 160,000 to
840,000 compared with the average sale for February.
It was the paper’s highest sale since the weeks after the September 11 attacks of 2001

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