Steven King (journalist)

In 1996, King began writing a weekly column for the Belfast Telegraph, before transferring to the Irish Examiner in 2005, before resigning in 2011 over claims that he had plagiarised content.^[1] He left formal politics in 2005 to work in public relations, initially assuming responsibility for dealing with the reputational issues arising from the Office of Fair Trading inquiry into alleged fee-fixing for the Independent Schools Council, before becoming External Relations Director for Policy Exchange a centre-right think-tank, between 2006 and 2008, then, latterly, as a director of APCO Worldwide between 2008 and 2012, the global public affairs and communications firm.^[1]

King's marriage, in 2005, to Jean-Claude Madrange was publicly denounced by the DUP politician Ian Paisley Jr.^[2]

In August 2010, an inquest at St Pancras Court in London found that King's partner, Jean-Claude Madrange, had taken his own life on 8 May. St Pancras Court was told that Mr Madrange was struggling with bipolar disorder and had tried to commit suicide by taking an overdose one month earlier.^[3]

In June 2012, the BBC reported that King was critically ill in a hospital in Delhi, India. Six weeks later, the BBC reported that King remained critically ill in intensive care in Delhi. King was transferred to the UK where he spent nearly 18 months in critical care, before recovering in rehabilitation.^[4]