Blackburn's political career, which began promisingly with his maiden speech being praised by Winston Churchill, was blighted by his alcoholism with the first of a series of arrests for drunkenness coming in 1947.
[1] Falling into further legal difficulties Blackburn was declared bankrupt in 1952 and imprisoned in 1956 for fraud regarding the illegal use of a caravan site,[1] and for unlawfully inducing people to buy shares in a worthless company.
[6] He publicly acknowledged his drink problem and even wrote a 1959 book discussing how alcohol had ruined his career.
[7] After disappearing from the public view for a time Blackburn returned as a moral crusader, working closely with anti-pornography campaigner Lord Longford.
[1] His other campaigns included a failed drive against gambling and attempts to prosecute the films Mera ur kärlekens språk and Language of Love for gross indecency, the former successfully, the latter unsuccessfully.
Although Mera ur kärlekens språk was the sequel of Language of Love Blackburn opted to prosecute the later film first.
In 1968, the Divisional Court of Queen's Bench consisting of Lord Widgery C.J., Stevenson and Brabin JJ, decided that "to prosecute must indisputably be a matter of discretion."
The original Blackburn case in the 1968 Court of Queen's Bench dealt with Blackburn's allegations of a London illegal gambling establishment, whereas in Autumn 1972 the adjudication was in the Court of Appeal of Lord Denning, MR.[12][13] The case was noted as recently as the 1998 decision of the Lords Regina v. Chief Constable of Sussex Ex Parte International Trader's Ferry Limited 1998 UKHL 40, concerning police protection for the customers of ITF, a company involved in the export of livestock through the port of Shoreham, during the early months of 1995 when animal rights protesters were trying to stop the trade.