A High Court judge has quashed a prisoner governor’s decision to stop a man jailed for murder from talking to a journalist for a podcast about his appeal against conviction.
Freelance journalist Robin Eveleigh said the judgment was a “significant moment for open justice” that set a legal precedent for future broadcast interviews between the media and prisoners.
Eveleigh has been fighting a two-and-a-half-year battle to record a podcast with Mark Alexander, who has been imprisoned for 13 years after being found guilty aged 22 of murdering his father.
Alexander has always maintained his innocence, claiming a lack of forensic evidence and underexplored alternative suspects.
Alexander began speaking to Eveleigh after feeling like he had exhausted all legal efforts to prove his innocence.
They have mostly spoken via letter, although also over the phone, with the intention of recording a podcast exploring Alexander’s case in the hope that it brings new information to light.
However, the governor of HMP Coldingley in Surrey, where Alexander is imprisoned, stopped him from recording a phone interview with Eveleigh.
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Among his reasons, the governor, Niall Bryant, said: “I consider there is a risk that the interview might cause distress [to victims], and that an interview with a man convicted of murdering his father creates a risk of outrage to public sensibilities.”
Bryant also said: “I do not consider that a telephone conversation is the most suitable method of communication.”
However, Eveleigh told Press Gazette why a podcast was the best method to tell Alexander’s story: “I’d taken the view long ago that the best way of telling Mark’s story would be through a podcast – it was the only way we were going to achieve the audience the story deserves.
“We could only do it justice through long-form storytelling, we could only deliver the investigation it needs and invite feedback from the audience – potentially revealing new evidence – through a series of episodes. And only by speaking to Mark directly could we critique his claims in a way that would be authentic, garnering responses in real time.
“We explained all this at the outset, but my professional opinion – based on over 20 years’ experience in journalism – was dismissed out of hand. We were also told that hearing Mark speak ran the risk of causing public outrage.”
Alexander and Eveleigh both believe the hit US podcast Serial shows the potential of podcasting in such cases. Adnan Syed was convicted of murdering his girlfriend in 1999 and spent over two decades in prison before being released and cleared of all charges after the podcast’s journalists investigated the case.
On Friday Alexander won his judicial review against the prison governor’s decision as Mr Justice Andrew Baker at the High Court found it had been both “misdirected” and “irrational”.
The prison governor must now reconsider Alexander’s request, and it is hoped by those involved it will set a legal precedent for similar cases in the future.
Eveleigh told Press Gazette: “I think the fact that the High Court has recognised the value of prisoners being able to speak directly to an audience is a significant moment for open justice beyond the confines of the courtroom. “It also shows that, in the right circumstances, giving prisoners a voice plays a crucial role in the pursuit of justice – far from being outraged, these are stories that people want to hear.”
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