Word: bolam
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Dates: during 1949-1949
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Vampire Horror. Mirror Editor Silves ter Bolam thought he had an exclusive angle, and took a chance to play it. On Page One, Bolam ran a three-column picture captioned: "Women Struggle to See Haigh Charged." Right next to it was a story headlined VAMPIRE HORROR IN LONDON. Its lurid tale...
Grave Error. Prisoner Haigh promptly asked for a writ of attachment against Editor Bolam and the Mirror for prejudicing his right to a fair trial. Bolam made the best defense he could find; he pleaded "guilty of a grave error for which I tender my most humble apologies...
...disgrace to English journalism . . . justice and fair play . . . There has never been a case ... of such a scandalous and wicked character. This has been done, not as an error of judgment, but as a matter of policy, pandering to sensationalism [to increase] circulation . . ." The Mirror was fined $40,000. Bolam was sentenced to three months in Brixton Prison (where Haigh is waiting trial), the first editor to be imprisoned under the law in 48 years...
London newspapers carried a brief factual report of Bolam's conviction, with no hints of vampires. None protested the verdict. The Times, which had printed only official announcements in the Haigh case, even cheered Lord Goddard; it thought its tabloid contemporary guilty of "a plain abuse of the right to report news freely...