Neil Collins's email to Hugo Dixon

Dear Hugo Thank you for your email. I am sorry that neither you nor David Schlesinger took the opportunity to discuss this affair with me at an early stage, when I first disclosed to him that I believed I had broken Reuters' internal rules. In the light of your decision yesterday evening, I feel it worth saying now what I would have done had I been given the chance. I have a basic pension fund from my time at the Daily Telegraph, but I manage all my other assets, including my family's ISA and SIPP portfolios. As you have seen from the comprehensive contract notes and dealing sheets I have provided for you, I deal infrequently. I saw an opportunity in BP, and added to my SIPP holding as the price fell. I failed to connect my comments for Reuters – among millions of words written on BP at the time - with the purchases. I had read Reuters' rules about share dealing on joining the company in March 2009, but my recollection was incorrect. I did recall the phrase "The test is whether the editorial activity might continue to have an impact on the securities." This is surely the point of the rules. I made no attempt to conceal my activities from my colleagues. When during a conversation, Chris Hughes suggested I might be in breach, I immediately (4 October) emailed David Schlesinger with the facts. I did this because I understood from Chris that he (David) was likely to be the decision-maker in the affair. I also realised that I had failed to disclose my interest in shares that I had written about, although I had not traded them in Reuters' 30-day "exclusion zone". Following our formal discussion on 13 October, I reviewed the portfolio dealings and discovered that I had sold the substantial holding of Marks & Spencer from my late father's estate five days after commenting on the company's results. As with BP, I view this as a serious, but technical breach of the rules. At no stage do I consider that I have abused my position at Reuters. On discovering the second breach, I felt I had no choice but to offer my resignation, which you accepted on 15 October. I am pleased that my comments are now to be revised to carry the appropriate disclaimers. I am saddened and embarrassed by my breaches of the rules and hope that you will shortly be able to draw a line under this unfortunate episode. Best wishes Neil