OVER the past month, chief reporter Gareth Davies has exposed a series of dating website scams linked to Selhurst fraudster Neelam Desai.
This week he received a visit from three police officers who said she felt "persecuted", "harassed" and, that if he continued doing his work, he could be arrested.
Here the Advertiser responds…
NEELAM Desai – a self confessed fraudster – has said she feels "persecuted" by articles written about her in the Advertiser.
Those articles are the result of an extensive investigation through which our chief reporter has exposed a complex dating website scam, which cost one victim £35,500.
Desai, 33, is accused of conning at least three men out of thousands of pounds after contacting them through Asian marriage site Shaadi.com. She used a fake identity and claimed to be raising money for homeless children, but the woman they fell for did not exist.
As a newspaper we have a responsibility to put those allegations to Desai, to give her the chance to respond.
To do that we visited the 33-year-old's home, in Beulah Grove, Selhurst, on March 4, and then sent two emails in the following weeks detailing the accusations and politely asking her for a comment.
In response, Desai, who will be sentenced for a series of other frauds this month, complained to the Press Complaints Commission and made entirely fictitious allegations to police of assault against the reporter who knocked on her door.
While she has since retracted those accusations, Desai now claims the emails she has received, and the stories we are writing, are tantamount to harassment.
We know that because three Met Police officers based in Gipsy Hill visited the Advertiser's head office in Redhill, Surrey, on Monday to serve him with a Prevention of Harassment Letter.
He was told that the letter was a warning that if he contacted her again – either directly or indirectly – he could be arrested.
When he explained his actions and showed them the emails, he was told that journalists were afforded no special privileges.
One of the officers added: "You say you were just doing your job, but that's what the News of the World and the phone hackers said."
The Advertiser does not believe reporters should get special treatment nor that allegations of harassment should be treated anything but seriously.
But does it require three police officers to travel around 20 miles to serve what is, itself, an intimidating warning letter which states a reporter could be arrested for doing his job?
The threat was picked up by the Press Gazette, a media industry publication, and the Daily Mail. It met with widespread condemnation from journalists across the country.
The harassment warning remains in place. Despite this, we will not stop investigating and reporting on Desai – who has, at no point, directly contacted the Advertiser and denied the allegations – where we feel it is fair and appropriate to do so.
Our reports have prompted two police investigations into her actions which, for one alleged victim, follows months of fighting for his accusations to be taken seriously.
That progress has come from good, old-fashioned journalism – not 'harassment'.
