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Charles Thomson attended a reception on Monday (October 30) to mark Journalism Matters Week, where culture secretary Lucy Frazer announced plans to crack down on mistreatment of reporters, including by police.
Other guests included Newsquest’s chief executive Henry Faure Walker and BBC director general Tim Davie.
Charles was one of two journalists invited to Number 10 to “recognise their contribution to local journalism in the south east”.
In 2019, he won a Journalism Matters award for a years-long investigation into the alleged cover-up of a historic paedophile ring run by a police informant from Shoebury, Essex.
Charles received three commendations at last year’s Media Freedom Awards (MFAs) for winning a landmark legal victory, becoming the first UK reporter ever to obtain deceased criminals’ police files under the Freedom of Information Act.
He is shortlisted in two categories at this year’s MFAs, to be held next week, for his investigation into the conviction of Jason Moore, charged with a 2005 murder after a single eyewitness identified him as the killer.
Charles tracked down that witness, who confessed he had been “drunk” at the time and did not know if he had identified the right person.
The revelation sparked a series of protests demanding Jason’s release.
The latest, led by the Bishop of Stepney, was held outside the gates of Downing Street on October 11.
Two weeks later, Charles received the invitation to go inside the gates.
He was joined by Andrew Gardner, an apprentice reporter at Newsquest’s Brighton newspaper The Argus.
Andrew joined Newsquest last year having already had work regularly published in national newspapers after establishing himself as a freelance photographer at age…
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