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Journalist and anti-nuclear campaigner dies aged 66

A journalist and anti-nuclear campaigner who started his career at a weekly newspaper has died of a heart attack at the age of 66.

Crispin Aubrey started out as a reporter at the Hampshire Chronicle before joining Time Out magazine in 1974 as an investigative journalist, focusing on the environment and nuclear energy.

He rose to national prominence in 1977 when he was arrested under the Official Secrets Act after Time Out became became involved in exposing British and American government secrecy.

Crispin was tried at the Old Bailey the following year with two other men and he was charged with unauthorised receipt of classified information, but this charge was dropped mid-trial and the three convicted of a lesser charge and given non-custodial sentences.

The trial and the campaign around it led to a re-examination of secrecy legislation and led to him writing a book about the Official Secrets Act.

Crispin, who remained a freelance journalist, lived in Somerset and was involved until his death in the Stop Hinckley campaign against the proposed building of Hinkley C, which would be the largest nuclear plant in Britain.

His death was announced by the Stop Hinckley campaign, which said he had suffered a heart attack while the group prepared for a protest next weekend.

Its website said: “Crispin played a key role in the preparations and was due to speak at the rally next Saturday. Crispin’s wife Sue, also part of the Stop Hinkley campaign, has bravely requested that the ‘show must go on because it’s what Crispin would have wanted.'”

From the early 1990s, he was a press officer for the Glastonbury Festival and had a number of other books published.

Crispin leaves his wife Sue, daughters, Kate, Meg and Rosie, and four grandchildren.