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Stuart Higgins (born c. 1956)cite-ref-beckett-1-0[1] is a British public relations consultant and former newspaper editor.

In 1972 Higgins left school in Kingswood, on the outskirts of Bristol, and began his career as a reporter at the South West News, an agency founded by Roland Arblaster.cite-ref-beckett-1-1[1]cite-ref-2[2] He began working for The Sun in 1979 as their West Country reporter.cite-ref-leveson-3-0[3] He was arrested in 1982 by the police after being found with a Sun photographer "testing security" at Highgrove House, home of Charles, Prince of Wales.cite-ref-beckett-1-2[1]

At one point, Kelvin MacKenzie printed Higgins' direct phone number in The Sun, billed him as the "human sponge" and asked readers to call Higgins to "get things off their chest".cite-ref-mmonkey-4-0[4]cite-ref-beckett-1-3[1] In 1994, Higgins succeeded MacKenzie as editor of the newspaper.cite-ref-hencke-5-0[5] In 1996, Higgins wrote a front-page story about an intimate video purporting to feature Diana, Princess of Wales, with James Hewitt. The video turned out to be a hoax.cite-ref-beckett-1-4[1]

Higgins left The Sun in June 1998.cite-ref-leveson-3-1[3] On 11 November 2003, Labour MP Clive Soley, using parliamentary privilege, alleged that News International had paid £500,000 'hush money' to a female employee who had accused Higgins of sexual harassment during his time at The Sun.cite-ref-6[6] Soley also accused Rebekah Wade (now Brooks), then the newspaper's editor, of writing a threatening letter to the MP to discourage him from researching the issue.cite-ref-7[7]cite-ref-hencke-5-1[5]

Higgins subsequently set up his own public relations company,cite-ref-hencke-5-2[5] but sold the company in 2007.cite-ref-8[8] In February 2013, it was reported that Higgins was in Pretoria, South Africa, assisting athlete Oscar Pistorius, accused of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, in dealing with the press.cite-ref-mmonkey-4-1[4]

cite-note-beckett-11. ↑ Andy Beckett "Soaking up the Sun", The Independent on Sunday, 13 October 1996

cite-note-22. ↑ In his Leveson submission, see below, Higgins says he joined Arblasters of Bristol "around 1976",

cite-note-leveson-33. ↑ "Leveson Inquiry: Response from Stuart Higgins" (PDF). Leveson submission. January 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-01-13.

cite-note-mmonkey-44. ↑ Media Monkey "Oscar Pistorius: can the 'Human Sponge' help handle the crisis?" guardian.co.uk, 15 February 2013

cite-note-hencke-55. ↑ David Hencke The case of the Sun editor, sexual harassment and a £500,000 payoff", The Guardian, 12 November 2003

cite-note-66. ↑ Hansard, Col.188, 11 November 2003

cite-note-77. ↑ Tom Leonard and Andrew Sparrow "MP accuses Sun of covering up office sex case", telegraph.co.uk, 12 November 2003

cite-note-88. ↑ Chris Tryhorn "Higgins' PR firm bought by Fast Track", guardian.co.uk, 11 December 2007