Don Hale
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Don Hale (born 1953) is a United Kingdom journalist. He was the editor of the Matlock Mercury who became involved in the campaign for a judicial review of the murder conviction of Stephen Downing.
In 1973, Downing, at the time a 17-year-old with the mental capacity of an 11-year-old, was imprisoned for the murder of Wendy Sewell and served 27 years in jail. The conviction was declared unsafe by the Court of Appeal in 2001 and Downing was released.
Hale was voted 2001 Man of the Year by the The Observer newspaper, Journalist of the Year by What the Papers Say and was made an Officer of the British Empire for his efforts and campaigning journalism, though he was also criticised for referring to Sewell as the Bakewell Tart.
