Caroline Flack’s mother: Labour ‘scared to act against the UK press’

Read time: 3 mins

In brief…

• Christine Flack says Labour is “scared” of acting against the UK press, having met with Lisa Nandy, who she says has done “nothing” to protect victims of press intrusion.
• Christine tells The News Agents there are still “lies” spread about her daughter Caroline, and hopes a new Disney+ documentary will help change public perception of the former Love Island host.
• She holds the Crown Prosecution Service part-responsible for Caroline’s death by suicide in 2020, for having pushed for her to be charged on domestic violence charges after a common assault incident involving her former partner.

What’s the story?

Christine Flack, mum of TV presenter Caroline Flack, has accused culture secretary Lisa Nandy, and the Labour government, of being “scared” of the UK press.

Christine says she feels abandoned by politicians, having met with Nandy to push for the second part of the Leveson Inquiry, cancelled by Matt Hancock in 2017.

It was set to investigate “unlawful or improper conduct" inside News International and other news organisations, including payments made to police forces.

"I met Lisa Nandy, and she cried when she heard my story – but she's done nothing," Christine Flack tells Jon Sopel.

"We met her as a group of people, saying that we need the second part of the Leveson Inquiry, for everybody, not just celebs. Journalists were with me."

Flack believes Nandy, and the Labour government, are as "scared" of the UK press as previous governments.

Christine Flack versus the Crown Prosecution Service

Christine Flack has been involved in a new documentary about Caroline for Disney+.

Flack says the documentary stirs up emotions surrounding Caroline's death, but also presents a chance for her to get answers she still feels are missing.

Key to those questions is why the Crown Prosecution Service pushed for domestic violence charges against Caroline relating to an incident involving former partner Lewis Burton. She pleaded not guilty to common assault charges in a London court, two months before she died by suicide.

These included widely-reported claims that she attacked Burton with a lamp, which Christine claims are untrue.

Burton did not want Caroline to be prosecuted on domestic violence charges.

"To me, this lovely daughter who loved life and her career was just dismissed as this domestic abuser," Christine Flack says.

"I thought, No, I can't let those lies stand."

‘Caroline Flack wasn’t the person people read about in the tabloids’

Flack says Caroline is still a target for tabloid journalists, naming the Daily Mail as a publication which continues to write negatively about her, and adds that seeing negative pieces written about her daughter highlights what the TV presenter must have seen before her death.

"She was ashamed of what they said about her, and she was ashamed of herself really, having shown herself up," Flack adds.

"She wouldn't talk about her mental health and everything, and I don't think she should have had to.

"I don't think you should have to bare your soul for people to believe you.”

Flack says her focus is to change how the media reports on celebrities, and the "lies" told about people in the public eye.

She says her hopes for the new documentary are to show the public that Caroline Flack was not a domestic abuser, and that claims she hit Burton with a lamp are false.

"Caroline loved life, she loved her job, but she wasn't able to cope at times with different things," she says.

"If she'd been someone different, she may have just got over it. If the CPS hadn't pressed and pressed for her to go to court, she may have gotten over it, but she wasn't the person that they wrote about in the papers."

If you, or someone you know, has been affected by any of the issues mentioned in this article, you can find support from The Samaritans on 116 123, or here.

Listen to the latest episode of The News Agents.