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World exclusive for Worksop weekly after Entwistle murder verdict

The Worksop Guardian is boasting ‘world exclusive’ with the parents of convicted murderer Neil Entwistle.

Entwistle’s parents, who live in the Nottinghamshire town, handed Guardian chief reporter Debbie Lockett a written statement as they left America following the guilty verdict in their son’s trial yesterday.

The statement was posted on the Guardian’s website at 8.10am today – six hours before the paper itself was due to go to press.

It thanked the paper for the support the Entwistles had received and claimed America had not given their son a fair trial.

Entwistle was convicted of the double murder of his American wife Rachel and their daughter Lillian Rose yesterday after a trial that has attracted worldwide media attention.

The statement said: “We write this in the wake of the verdict of our innocent son Neil and we are devastated by the outcome.

“We find the strength, however, as we have done for the past two-and-a-half years to fight through this difficult time with the love and support from our family and friends back home.

“There are too many individuals for us to name personally at this time, but we express our deepest gratitude to each and everyone.

“To the people of Worksop, the United Kingdom and America who have also given us support, we thank you.

“We chose to respect America by not being dragged into pre-trial propaganda as this trial was for the courtroom only.

“Unfortunately, America did not respect us back and has not given our innocent son a fair trial. We send you all our love, God bless you all.”

Despite being a small weekly paper, Guardian editor George Robinson decided to send Debbie to America to cover the trial in person rather than rely on agency copy.

George, who has been writing a daily blog throughout the three-week trial, has been accused by some of giving Entwistle sympathetic coverage.

One US newspaper, the Boston Herald, published an article this month headed: “Hometown paper in Worksop has a soft spot for Neil Entwistle”.

But George told HoldtheFrontPage he had simply played it straight – and refused to get dragged into any mud slinging.

“In some respects it’s a straightforward trial but because it’s in the USA the reporting restrictions are different,” he said.

“It’s been a bit of a free-for-all for two years. I feel that we have played a straight bat on this and not got into the frenzied reporting that the Americans have.”

Yesterday HoldtheFrontPage revealed how the Worksop Guardian had every eventuality covered while it waited for the verdict as today’s 2pm print deadline loomed.