LONDON — After a series of court reversals, prosecutors on Friday dropped charges against nine of the 12 journalists who still faced trial after police investigations into the behavior of ’s freewheeling tabloid press.
Those who will be spared prosecution over allegations that they paid officials for information include Andy Coulson, a former editor of , who became a media adviser to Prime Minister David Cameron and who has already served a for conspiring to intercept voice mail messages.
The announcement came just hours after three reporters were cleared of charges that included making illegal payments to a prison officer for information about the singer Boy George and about Jack Tweed, the widower of the TV reality star Jade Goody.
The retreat by the authorities came after a legal review and cases in which juries acquitted 13 reporters. A large-scale police inquiry followed a that, in 2011, led to the , a weekly that was owned by Rupert Murdoch.
In a statement, the Crown Prosecution Service, which is responsible for initiating prosecutions, said that it would still proceed with cases against three journalists while dropping charges against nine, including Mr. Coulson. The prosecutors also said that under new guidelines, it might be legitimate to treat public officials and journalists differently in such cases. “This may result in different considerations when applied to public officials and journalists, whose responsibilities and motivations in the positions they hold are relevant to the overall seriousness of offending,” the statement said.
It said that, in the cases of 29 journalists charged with making payments to public officials, there had been one conviction and 13 acquittals by a jury. The remaining cases were either dropped or awaiting possible future court hearings.
Prosecutors defended the investigation, known as Operation Elveden, saying it had “revealed corruption in areas where the public should generally expect confidentiality.” It had, it added, “properly brought 28 prosecutions against public officials who have received payments totaling around 180,000 pounds,” or about $269,000.
There was a more ambivalent reaction from Hacked Off, a lobbying organization that had pushed for tighter regulation of the press and that had criticized the culture of Mr. Murdoch’s newspaper group, News UK.
“Prosecutors have now recognized that juries in the United Kingdom have been unwilling to convict journalists of a conspiracy offense when paying public officials was company policy, but over two dozen public officials have gone to prison,” said Evan Harris, associate director of Hacked Off.
In a statement, News UK said: “We are pleased that these proceedings are now over for most of the journalists who were investigated under Operation Elveden. We are obviously disappointed for those journalists who still face charges, and will continue offering them the support we have provided as a company throughout.”
On Friday, Neil Millard and Brandon Malinsky from The Sun, owned by News UK, and Graham Brough, a former employee of the rival Daily Mirror, owned by Trinity Mirror, were found not guilty of illegally paying public officials. Mr. Brough had been accused of paying £1,150 ($1,722) to a prison officer in return for information about Boy George and Mr. Tweed. Afterward, Mr. Malinsky described his court case as “nearly two years of torture.”
“It’s a disgraceful waste of public money,” he told The Press Association news agency, adding that the police should stop “persecuting innocent journalists.”