David Leigh (journalist)

David Leigh
Born	1946 (age 70–71)
Nationality	British
Education	Nottingham High School, King's College, Cambridge
Occupation	investigative journalist, assistant editor
Years active	1970 – present
Title	The Guardian's former Investigations executive editor

David Leigh (born 1946) is a British journalist and author who was the investigations executive editor of The Guardian. He officially retired in April 2013, although Leigh continued his association with the newspaper.

Educated at Nottingham High School and King's College, Cambridge, leaving with a postgraduate degree in 1969. He is an investigative journalist who received the first of several British Press Awards in 1979 for an exposure of jury-vetting. He was a journalist for the Scotsman, The Times, and The Guardian, and a Laurence Stern fellow at the Washington Post in 1980. Between 1989 and 1996, he also worked as a reporter for Thames TV's current affairs series "This Week", and a producer/director for Granada TV's investigative series "World in Action".

From 1980 to 1989, he was chief investigative reporter at The Observer. His book The Wilson Plot (1988) increased public interest in alleged attempts by the British security services and others to destabilise Harold Wilson's government in the 1970s. His 1995 TV documentary for World in Action, "Jonathan of Arabia", led after a libel trial to the jailing for perjury of former Conservative defence minister Jonathan Aitken.

With his colleague Rob Evans, Leigh published a series of corruption exposures in The Guardian about international arms giant BAE Systems. After a criminal inquiry by the US Department of Justice and other international prosecutors, the company was eventually required to pay penalties totalling $529 million. In 2006, Leigh became the Anthony Sampson Professor of Reporting in the Journalism department at City University London. His wife's sister married Alan Rusbridger, who later became editor of The Guardian

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