In breach of a court order and reminders from the CPS the defendant newspapers published material severely critical of the defendant in a notorious murder trial after the jury had retired but before they returned all their verdicts. A retrial had been required.
Held: ‘ this material went way beyond what the jury had been told about Bellfield, murderer though they knew him to be and had again found him to be. There was a real risk that the jury would have thought that the additional material was relevant to the remaining count where he was charged with attempting to abduct a schoolgirl. I am quite satisfied that both the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror by publishing the further material, particularly that relating to his rape of girls, created a quite separate and distinct risk of serious prejudice.’ Though there had been other publications, those subject to this complaint, in the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror went substantially beyond the limits accepted by others.
Citations:
[2012] EWHC 2029 (Admin)
Links:
Statutes:
Contempt of Court Act 1981 2(1)
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Contempt of Court, Media
Updated: 03 November 2022; Ref: scu.462953
