NightJack was a no holds barred crime blog from England that reported from the front lines of English policing. The man who ran the blog needed his anonymity to write honestly about the streets of England, if for nothing else, because England will prosecute and attempt to jail bloggers who offend Muslim sensibilities.

The Times of London didn’t much care for an Orwell award winning blogger reporting the truth about England, so they set out to destroy NightJack by publishing his real name and thus opening up the possibility of his career being ruined and perhaps his life being threatened. NightJack tried to get a court injunction to stop them and the court ruled against him. Now NightJack has been deleted, Detective Constable Richard Horton has been exposed and The Times Online is reveling in their power to destroy lives:

In a landmark decision, Mr Justice Eady refused to grant an order to protect the anonymity of a police officer who is the author of a blog called NightJack.

The officer, Richard Horton, 45, a detective constable with Lancashire Constabulary, had sought an injunction to stop The Times from revealing his name.

In April Mr Horton was awarded the Orwell Prize for political writing, but the judges were not aware that he was revealing confidential details about cases, some involving sex offences against children, that could be traced back to genuine prosecutions.

His blog, which gave a behind-the-scenes insight into frontline policing, included strong views on social and political issues, including matters of “public controversy,” the judge said.

The officer also criticised and ridiculed “a number of senior politicians” and advised members of the public under police investigation to “complain about every officer . . . show no respect to the legal system or anybody working in it.”

Mr Horton has now deleted his website and received a written warning from his force.

Read the rest, it’s an interesting piece. I am not a supporter of the “right to anonymity” people throw around. But The Times clearly went out of their way to target and silence this blogger. When American papers realize they can do the same thing it will have an equally chilling effect.