The court considered the effect of prejudicial reporting on a trial: ‘In a case such as this, the publications either will or will not prove to have been so harmful that when the time for the trial arrives the techniques available to the trial judge for neutralising them will be insufficient to prevent injustice. The proper forum for a complaint about publicity is the trial court, where the judge can assess the circumstances which exist when the defendant is about to be given in charge of the jury, and decide whether measures such as warnings and directions to the jury, peremptory challenge and challenge for cause will enable the jury to reach its verdict with an unclouded mind, or whether exceptionally a temporary or even permanent stay of the prosecution is the only solution.’
Judges:
Lord Mustill
Citations:
[1996] AC 842, (1996) 47 WIR 459
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Thakur Persad Jaroo v Attorney-General of Trinidad and Tobago PC 4-Feb-2002
(Trinidad and Tobago) The appellant sought a declaration that his constitutional rights had been infringed. He had bought a car. When told it may be stolen, he took it to the police station, but after he heard nothing and it was not returned. He . .
Cited – Independent Publishing Company Limited v The Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago, The Director of Public Prosecutions PC 8-Jun-2004
PC (Trinidad and Tobago) The newspapers had been accused of contempt of court having reported matters in breach of court orders, and the editors committed to prison after a summary hearing: ‘In deciding whether . .
Cited – Director of Public Prosecutions and others v Tokai and others PC 12-Jun-1996
(Trinidad and Tobago) The appellant had been charged in 1981 with offences alleged to have been committed shortly before. The proceedings continued until his appeal for one was dismissed in 1988. The wounding charges were proceeded with only in . .
Cited – Noel Heath and Glenroy Matthew v The Government of the United States of America PC 28-Nov-2005
PC (St. Christopher and Nevis) The defendants resisted extradition to the US to face charges relating to importating of unlawful drugs.
Held: There was nothing in the arguments proposed to support an . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Criminal Practice, Commonwealth, Media
Updated: 28 April 2022; Ref: scu.180976
