Lewes Speakers Festival: Martin Brunt

The All Saints, Lewes, BN7

Sat 13th May 2023 3:50PM

What is it about crime that we find so fascinating, even if at the same time the details are repugnant? Why are some crimes more newsworthy than others? And how has that perception changed, if at all, in an age when every smartphone-owner is a potential on-the-spot reporter?
Martin Brunt has been with Sky since its inception in 1989 and has covered and often led the headlines on pretty much every major crime story since then. He has been widely acknowledged as having unparalleled sources, with one journalist observing at the time of the ‘Suffolk Strangler’ murders in 2006 that when he phoned Suffolk Police for a comment on the case, he was told: ‘Call Martin Brunt. He knows everything before we do.’
But of course that was BL – Before Leveson, the inquiry into dealings between the police and media, which has changed the landscape entirely.
This talk will offer a fascinating overview of the nature of crime reporting and how it has changed over the past thirty-five years or so. Along the way Martin will reveal many previously undisclosed details from some of the biggest stories he’s covered, from the ‘Thames torso’ to Fred and Rose West; from the disappearance of Sarah Payne to the Hatton Garden ‘diamond wheezers’.
Martin Brunt is Sky News’ crime correspondent, covering several of the biggest stories of the past 20 years. He has delivered a series of exclusive reports while covering the Cromwell Street killings, the murder of TV presenter Jill Dando, the trial of terrorist Carlos the Jackal, the London 7/7 bombings, the disappearance of Madeleine McCann and the Hatton Garden diamond heist. He has also tracked down several fugitives abroad.
A Q&A Session will follow.