 A close personal friend of the late George Carman QC, Crone was one of the first media managers to use libel defence specialist John Kelsey-Fry QC.He also hit out at then Attorney General for England and Wales Lord Goldsmith for clamping down on media coverage of high-profile cases, such as the allegations of rape made against a group of Premier League footballers, before they go to trial.As part of his role at News International, Crone gave evidence before parliamentary committees in 2009, stating that he had uncovered no evidence of phone hacking beyond the criminal offences committed by the royal editor Clive Goodman.