WELSH ASSOCIATION OF LICENSED KENNELS

(cutting from Private Eye November 12th,1999)

A corking exclusive filled three pages of last week's Mail on Sunday: "The investigative journalist who exposed Animal liberation Front terror tactics has been subjected to a horrifying revenge ordeal - taken captive and tortured with a branding iron"

Graham Hall, who won a Bafta award earlier this year for his programme on animal liberationists, had the scars to prove it.

The Mail claimed Hall's shocking ordeal was being investigated by West Mercia CID, who had taken a statement from him. Not so, West Mercia CID told Monday's Guardian: Hall hadn't even informed them of the incident, and the first they knew of it was when the read their Sunday newspapers.

Hall was praised by the Mail as "an old hand who braved death threats from gangs of drug smugglers, illegal cartels, dog-fighting rings and other criminals" But there is rather more to his CV than that - as West Mercia know better than most.

As long ago as 1991, when Hall was working for the news of the Screws, the Eye revealed that he was a convicted burglar. The following year, a court ordered him to repay £10,000 belonging to the international Animal Rescue charity, which he claimed had been stolen from his car. (To date he has repaid less than £100) In spite of these setbacks he was commissioned by Chanel 4 to make "undercover " documentaries - including "Stolen Goods", transmitted in 1998, which apparently exposed a Worcester antiques dealer as a "fence" for local criminals.

There was only one slight problem with this scoop, the antiques man Tim Hinks, was in fact working undercover himself as an informant for the West Mercia Police, who at the time were investigating non other than Graham Hall. Hinks claims that he told C 4 about this, but the Channel went ahead with the programme anyway. He then protested to the Broadcasting Standards Council. In March this year the BSC upheld his complaint, condemning Hall's film for "unfairness and unwarranted infringement of privacy" Although C4 executives had good reason to suspect that Hinks was working for the police, they still "chose to identify and convict him on television without checking further" Nor did they tell viewers that the film maker himself had criminal convictions for theft.

The film also neglected to mention that Graham Hall's previous association with hinks, over a counterfeit money operation. In 1994, again working under CID instructions , Hinks gave Hall £8,000 to buy fake £20 notes. The money was never seen again./cutting ends.

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Music: "Suzette" French top ten

You wont forget that WALK was the first to notice Graham Halls's activities, alerted by the Dr. Barry Peachey book "The Cockfighters" an extract of which is on these pages click here to go to it