Journalist cleared over ex-MP's explicit X post

The judge said Greg Hadfield (pictured) was just "a journalist expressing frustration"

A journalist has been cleared of an obscenity allegation over his social media post about explicit content on a former MP's X account.

Greg Hadfield, 69, of Brighton, East Sussex, denied sending an offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing message on a public communication network.

Brighton Magistrates' Court heard Mr Hadfield's X post showed former Hove MP and minister Ivor Caplin, 67, engaging with explicit pornography on the platform.

Judge Sam Goozee dismissed the case, saying "context is important" and Mr Hadfield was "a journalist expressing frustration".

The court heard Sussex Police arrested Mr Caplin in January for alleged sexual communication with a child and released him under investigation.

Mr Hadfield told the court on Monday he had tried repeatedly to flag Mr Caplin's "likes" for a year before posting a screenshot of the ex-Labour MP's reply to an explicit picture on 25 June 2024.

Judge Goozee said Mr Hadfield's post was "a single image, which had been screenshot from another public like by Mr Caplin".

The picture "could be described as indecent in some contexts", he said, but the prosecution's evidence was not the full post and did not "disclose the full image, or the thread of the message".

The judge said Mr Hadfield, a former Sunday Times, Daily Mail and Brighton and Hove Independent journalist, was "whistleblowing and frustrated by the inaction of other parties and bringing the information to a more public platform".

"Context is all important in cases such as these and context was missing from the prosecution exhibit," he found.

Mr Hadfield was a Labour Party member from 2006 to 2021 and involved in Brighton politics alongside Mr Caplin after he stepped down as an MP in 2005.

The former journalist sobbed as he was cleared of the allegation and was comforted by family and friends supporting him in court.

After the verdict, Mr Hadfield wrote that he was "accused under a deeply flawed piece of legislation that is being used and abused by Sussex Police" and prosecuted for his journalism.

Sussex Police was contacted for comment.

Additional reporting by PA Media