The newspapers objected to the proposed conduct of a terrorist trial entirely in secret.
Held: ‘This case is exceptional. We are persuaded on the evidence before us that there is a significant risk – at the very least, a serious possibility – that the administration of justice would be frustrated were the trial to be conducted in open Court; for what appears to be good reason on the material we have seen, the Crown might be deterred from continuing with the prosecution. We are also of the clear view that in this case it is unreal to contemplate a split trial – with the core of the trial being split into open and in camera hearings. In our judgment, as a matter of necessity, the core of the trial must be heard in camera. ‘
An order was made for the defendants to be identified and for the certain short parts of the hearings to be public. Otherwise the order for the trial to be held in camera were sustaiined.
Gross LJ, Simon, Burnett JJ
[2014] EWCA Crim (B1)
Bailii
England and Wales
Crime, Human Rights, Constitutional, Media
Updated: 10 November 2021; Ref: scu.526513