How Low Can it Go?

(Posted on 13/01/12)

It never fails - just when you're sure the crash and burn is complete with News of the World, something a bit more bizarre happens. This time, a former employee is accused of bribing a prison guard. What next?

Remember Matt Nixson? He was the one who found himself on the hot seat after his former employer, News Corp., accused him of "wrongdoing" in the massive scandal that brought an empire to its knees.

These days, Nixson is in the spotlight yet again after accusations have surfaced that he tried to bribe a prison guard for proprietary information regarding Ian Huntley, a convicted killer. He's being accused of paying a prison guard £750 in early 2009. Remember, too, Nixson has hired a team of solicitors to handing a wrongful termination suit as well as breach of contract against his former employer. Nixson was a features executive of both the Sun and News of the World at various times in recent years.

Interestingly enough, it was News Group Newspaper that says it magically stumbled on the details that Nixson had approached the guard with a handsome payoff - and a warning to the guard that it must be handled with kid gloves. Nixson cited a "new forensic accountant who doesn't brook any funny business." He then trades emails with the guard up until he was fired last July after his employer "unearthed" emails that implicated him in illegal activity.

Meanwhile, Nixson's solicitor is quoted as saying his client "...neither bribed nor ever admitted to bribing a prison officer." If the alleged charges come to pass, Nixson's comment to a coworker that bringing the security guard on board was a "freebie" might be hitting closer to home than he realizes - especially if this makes it through law enforcement channels. The problems continue to spill forth, not only on the massive publishing conglomerate, but for the players that drove it into the ditch, too.

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