'''Stuart Higgins''' (born c. 1956)<ref name="Beckett">Andy Beckett [https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/soaking-up-the-sun-1358192.html "Soaking up the Sun"], ''The Independent on Sunday'', 13 October 1996</ref> is a British public relations consultant and former newspaper editor.
In 1972 Higgins left school in Kingswood, on the outskirts of Bristol, and began his career as a reporter at the South West News, an agency founded by Roland Arblaster.<ref name="Beckett"/><ref>In his Leveson submission, see below, Higgins says he joined Arblasters of Bristol "around 1976",</ref> He began working for ''The Sun'' in 1979 as their West Country reporter.<ref name="Leveson">{{cite web | url=http://www.levesoninquiry.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Witness-Statement-of-Stuart-Higgins.pdf | title=Leveson Inquiry: Response from Stuart Higgins | work=Leveson submission | date=January 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120113010120/http://www.levesoninquiry.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Witness-Statement-of-Stuart-Higgins.pdf | archive-date=2012-01-13 | url-status=unfit }}</ref> He was arrested in 1982 by the police after being found with a ''Sun'' photographer "testing security" at Highgrove House, home of Charles, Prince of Wales.<ref name="Beckett"/>
At one point, Kelvin MacKenzie printed Higgins' direct phone number in ''The Sun'', billed him as the "human sponge" and asked readers to call Higgins to "get things off their chest".<ref name="MMonkey">Media Monkey [https://www.theguardian.com/media/mediamonkeyblog/2013/feb/15/oscar-pistorius-human-sponge "Oscar Pistorius: can the 'Human Sponge' help handle the crisis?"] guardian.co.uk, 15 February 2013</ref><ref name="Beckett"/> In 1994, Higgins succeeded MacKenzie as editor of the newspaper.<ref name="hencke">David Hencke [https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/nov/12/uk.pressandpublishing The case of the Sun editor, sexual harassment and a £500,000 payoff"], ''The Guardian'', 12 November 2003</ref> In 1996, Higgins wrote a front-page story about an intimate video purporting to feature Diana, Princess of Wales, with James Hewitt. The video turned out to be a hoax.<ref name="Beckett"/>
Higgins left ''The Sun'' in June 1998.<ref name="Leveson"/> On 11 November 2003, Labour MP Clive Soley, using parliamentary privilege, alleged that News International had paid £500,000 'hush money' to a female employee who had accused Higgins of sexual harassment during his time at ''The Sun''.<ref>[https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200203/cmhansrd/vo031111/debtext/31111-09.htm ''Hansard''], Col.188, 11 November 2003</ref> Soley also accused Rebekah Wade (now Brooks), then the newspaper's editor, of writing a threatening letter to the MP to discourage him from researching the issue.<ref>Tom Leonard and Andrew Sparrow [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1446498/MP-accuses-Sun-of-covering-up-office-sex-case.html "MP accuses Sun of covering up office sex case"], telegraph.co.uk, 12 November 2003</ref><ref name="hencke"/>
Higgins subsequently set up his own public relations company,<ref name="hencke"/> but sold the company in 2007.<ref>Chris Tryhorn [https://www.theguardian.com/media/2007/dec/11/marketingandpr.pressandpublishing "Higgins' PR firm bought by Fast Track"], guardian.co.uk, 11 December 2007</ref> In February 2013, it was reported that Higgins was in Pretoria, South Africa, assisting athlete Oscar Pistorius, accused of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, in dealing with the press.<ref name="MMonkey"/>
==References== <references />
{{s-start}} {{s-media}} {{succession box|title=Deputy Editor of ''The Sun''|years=1990–1993|before=Martin Dunn|after=Neil Wallis}} {{succession box|title=Editor of the ''News of the World''|years=1993–1994|before=Patsy Chapman|after=Piers Morgan}} {{succession box|title=Editor of ''The Sun''|years=1994–1998|before=Kelvin MacKenzie|after=David Yelland}} {{s-end}}
{{The Sun editors}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Higgins, Stuart}} Category:1950s births Category:Living people Category:English newspaper editors Category:English male journalists Category:British public relations people Category:The Sun (United Kingdom) editors Category:Year of birth missing (living people)