An individual who faced criminal charges sued the CPS for libel, misfeasance in public office, and breach of the Human Rights Act, in respect of a public announcement that those charges were to be brought. The court was asked now to decide whether the announcement of the charge included meanings suggesting (as was denied) that the claimant was suspected of involvement in child abuse. The wording used was ‘making and possessing of indecent images of children’.
Held: The court must look to the ordinary and natural meaning of the words used and not to technical legal meanings. However: ‘The reaction of the ordinary reasonable reader to the wording of the Charging Announcement would take into account its nature and its source. It would be recognised for what it was: a formal public announcement by a public authority of a considered decision to bring specific criminal charges under specified statutory provisions against a named individual.’ and ‘Everybody knows that the process of making, that is creating or producing, a photograph can involve a wide range of activities. A person ‘makes’ a photograph if they develop it from film, for example, or if they participate in the process of printing it from a digital image. There is nothing in the Charging Announcement to indicate that in levelling this charge at this defendant the CPS were alleging any particular role, or adopting any particular meaning of ‘making’, limited to or involving the physical presence of the defendant at the indecent scene in the guise of photographer. In my judgment the reasonable reader, not avid for scandal, would not infer that this is what the CPS was alleging. ‘
Judges:
Warby J
Citations:
[2016] EWHC 1926 (QB)
Links:
Statutes:
Protection of Children Act 1978 1(1)(a)
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Turley v Unite The Union and Another QBD 19-Dec-2019
Defamation of Labour MP by Unite and Blogger
The claimant now a former MP had alleged that a posting on a website supported by the first defendant was false and defamatory. The posting suggested that the claimant had acted dishonestly in applying online for a category of membership of the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Defamation, Crime
Updated: 25 September 2022; Ref: scu.567798