Geoff Webster (born Geoffrey B. Webster; 1959) is the deputy editor of '' The Sun'' newspaper in the UK (currently suspended due to criminal charges brought under
Operation Elveden
Operation Elveden was a British police investigation into allegations of inappropriate payments to police officers and other public officials. It was opened as a result of documents provided by News International to the Operation Weeting investiga ...
).
Move to the ''Sun'' newspaper
In 2003 the deputy editor of the ''
News of the World
The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national Tabloid journalism#Red tops, red top Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling En ...
'',
Rebekah Brooks
Rebekah Mary Brooks (; born 27 May 1968) is a British media executive and former journalist and newspaper editor in chief, editor. She has been chief executive officer of News UK since 2015. She was previously CEO of News UK, News International ...
, was appointed editor of the ''Sun'' newspaper. Shortly after arriving Brooks moved Webster from his job as associate editor/head of pictures at the News of the World, appointing him associate editor at the Sun, effectively making him "third in command" on the paper.
Promotion
Webster was promoted to joint deputy editor of the ''Sun'', along with Simon Cosyns, when
David Dinsmore
David Dinsmore (born 2 September 1968) is a Scottish newspaper executive and a former editor of '' The Sun'' newspaper. Dinsmore grew up in Glasgow, and began working for News International at the age of 22. and charged with conspiring to commit misconduct in a public office as part of
Operation Elveden
Operation Elveden was a British police investigation into allegations of inappropriate payments to police officers and other public officials. It was opened as a result of documents provided by News International to the Operation Weeting investiga ...
. One of the charges relates to an alleged payment of £6,500 to a
Ministry of Defence
{{unsourced, date=February 2021
A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...
official, with a further £1,500 allegedly going to another public official.
Webster's arrest in February 2012 prompted
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...
to fly to London to reassure the staff that he would not be closing down the newspaper. Writing in ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'',
Roy Greenslade
Roy Greenslade (born 31 December 1946) is a British author and freelance journalist, and a former professor of journalism. He worked in the UK newspaper industry from the 1960s onwards. As a media commentator, he wrote a daily blog from 2006 to ...
described Murdoch's meeting with the staff:
"Though some reports suggested soon after the 6 March meeting that he upert Murdochhad won over the assembled staff, I was told the opposite. ... They were not in the least bit mollified by what he had to say. ... It was a hugely emotional occasion. Former managing editor
Graham Dudman
Graham Dudman (born 2 October 1963) is the current Managing Editor of '' The Sun'' newspaper.
On 28 January 2012, the BBC said it understood Dudman had been arrested in relation to the News International phone hacking scandal, by detectives inve ...
– the major spokesman on behalf of his colleagues – eventually broke down in tears. This followed the reading – by agony aunt Deidre Sanders – of a letter written by Alison Webster, the Page 3 photographer who is married to deputy editor Geoff Webster (who attended the meeting)."
Webster was supported by several colleagues, and his wife, when he appeared in court. He pleaded not guilty at the
Old Bailey
The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...
and was given unconditional bail. On 20 March 2015, Webster was cleared of charges that he had signed off illegal payments.
Operation Elveden
Operation Elveden was a British police investigation into allegations of inappropriate payments to police officers and other public officials. It was opened as a result of documents provided by News International to the Operation Weeting investiga ...