Don Hale

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Don Hale OBE (born July 1952) is a United Kingdom journalist. He was the editor of the Matlock Mercury who became involved in the campaign to overturn the murder conviction of Stephen Downing.

In 1973, Downing, at the time a 17-year-old with the reading age 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.

After a short spell working for the North Wales Pioneer newspaper, Hale later became editor of the newly-formed North Wales Living magazine in 2005. He left this magazine in December 2007 to start his own publishing business and launched a new lifestyle magazine for Chester, Cheshire, Shropshire, Mid & North Wales, called Coast & Country Living. He continues to write best-selling biographies and during the autumn of 2007, his book about the famous frogman spy mystery 'Buster' Crabb was published by Suttons/The History Press to great acclaim. Hale has also published a fascinating new book about his great grandfather, James Wood, who was a notable Manchester detective from 1890-1914, and was indeed the very first Royal Protection Officer, acting as a personal bodyguard to the Prince of Wales, following the loss of Queen Victoria, and continued threats against the monarchy.