A crisis survived, a conviction quashed — but justice still owes Tom Hayes

But he might just be one of the few who’s managed to pull himself through it while staying sane, focused and astonishingly fair-minded.

The Supreme Court’s decision to quash his conviction is, of course, a matter of law. But the story of how he survived what came before that decision — five and a half years in prison, a shredded reputation, a wrecked family — is a matter of character.

I interviewed Tom earlier this year for my podcast Crisis What Crisis? and what struck me then, and strikes me even more now, is that he didn’t dodge, didn’t rant and certainly didn’t seek pity. He simply told the truth.

“The UK,” Tom said, “is now alone.” Not a political statement, just a legal reality. Countries across the developed world — Japan, Canada, the U.S. — all concluded that the actions he was accused of simply weren’t crimes at the time.

And yet here, we made a pariah of a man who, far from fitting the caricature of the greedy City trader, spent his evenings drinking orange juice in the bath and was known by nicknames like “Rain Man” and “Kid Aspergers”. Once the label – a selfish city boy out for himself – stuck, Tom carried that weight into every conversation, every room, every job interview as he attempted to keep his life on track.

His autism diagnosis came after he was charged but was all but ignored by the court. That, in itself, is a damning footnote. “People thought I was maybe a little bit of an oddity,” he told me, “But the way my mind worked, the way I interpreted rules… it was relevant”.

There’s a temptation — especially in public life — to reach for the familiar playbook: blame, deflect, deny. Tom didn’t.

“I loved my job,” he said. “Given the information available to me at the time, why would I have changed what I did? I didn’t believe I had done anything wrong”.

That’s not arrogance. That’s the clarity that comes from believing, with good reason, that you’ve been wrongly convicted — and knowing that the machine that came for you is one you’ll never quite escape.

He talked about the pain of seeing old colleagues now enjoying the careers they might have shared. “That’s painful for me sometimes,” he admitted. “It makes me feel sad, and at times I can start feeling angry… and then I have to deal with my anger”.

This is not a man seeking to rewrite the past. It’s someone trying, still, to live with it.

And that, for those involved in the damning of Tom Hayes, should be the takeaway. Because while the court has cleared his name, there must now be a reckoning for the untold damage that was done to him and his family – not least the five years of separation from his young son that he will never be able to reclaim.

Tom has endured this pain for 12 years and accepts that there were moments when he wanted to give up but Tom said to me, with no trace of self-pity: “Statistically,where I ended up was so improbable, I might as well have been struck by lightning”.

Portrayed for over a decade as that shamed and greedy banker - Tom can now start to rebuild and reclaim his identity as a great example of resilience, strength and true stoicism.

________________

Andy Coulson is the Founder of Coulson Partners and the host of the podcast Crisis What Crisis.

LBC Opinion provides a platform for diverse opinions on current affairs and matters of public interest.

The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official LBC position.

To contact us email opinion@lbc.co.uk