Papers pass verdict on Leslie case

Readers of the Daily Express will have to wait until Saturday for the start of what the newspaper promises to be a series of exclusive interviews with television presenter John Leslie.

Even so, the Express still devotes nine pages to the dropping of the sexual assault charges against him.

"Outside court yesterday, he stood an innocent man," the paper declares," not just in his own eyes or those who love him, but also in the eyes of the law and the world."

The Daily Mirror is among those highlighting the judge's words that John Leslie was free to go "without a stain on his character".

But it argues this is not completely true.

The Mirror points out that even though the case was dropped, the presenter's name was dragged through the mud for almost a year.

It backs calls for a change in the law to give sex case suspects a degree of anonymity.

Rough justice

The Daily Mail is scathingly critical of the performance of the Crown Prosecution Service in the administration of justice.

In the paper's words, "this expensive, time-consuming legal shambles won't impress those who live in constant fear of thieves and thugs".

The Guardian believes Leslie's case underlines the need for an end to what it calls trial by media.

The criminal justice system was created to replace mob rule, the paper points out.

And trial by ordeal went out in the Middle Ages.

The Guardian calls for police leaks to the press to be plugged.

It says the contempt rules must be used to rein in the tabloids.

Hutton up

The Times is among papers to look ahead to the opening of the Hutton inquiry into the death of government scientist Dr David Kelly.

It remarks that as a former Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, Lord Hutton is well-placed to examine the events leading up to Dr Kelly's apparent suicide.

His experience gives him considerable insight into the workings of the intelligence service.

It has attuned him to the political sensitivities of cases involving state security.

Savage City

The Financial Times highlights the award of more than £900,000 in damages to a broker in the City of London who claimed he had been bullied at work.

The FT says the ruling sends an important signal to the City that it must clean up its act.

As the paper puts it, some firms believe it is too much to ask their employees to behave decently.

Thankfully, the courts think otherwise.

Major revelation

There is also widespread interest in a rare interview given by Sir Denis Thatcher in the months before his death in June.

As the husband of Britain's first woman prime minister, Sir Denis prided himself on keeping his own counsel where the media were concerned.

But the Daily Telegraph is among papers to report he is highly critical of John Major in a Channel Four documentary, Maggie and Me, Denis Thatcher's Story, to be shown on Sunday.

He describes Mr Major as a "ghastly" prime minister who destroyed the Conservative Party and led it to utter defeat at the hands of Tony Blair.