An offender had absconded with a child and was to be prosecuted for sex offences against her. The police circulated all the journalists who had had contact to say that an identification of the defendant would also identify the girl. The defendant here, the editor of a magazine was not so informed. She published the name, and a photograph of the girl, and now appealed her conviction for offences under the 1992 Act.
Held: The appeal was dismissed. There existed strong grounds on which a suspicion that an allegation of sexual misconduct against this girl could properly be based. ‘It was, if there was any doubt about the matter, clearly open to the defendant to make enquiries of the police in order that she might be equipped with all that information, to which I have referred, which had been circulated to persons other than her by e-mail and otherwise.’
Judges:
Rose LJ, Crane J
Citations:
[2005] EWHC 1240 (Admin)
Links:
Statutes:
Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992, European Convention on Human Rights 10
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Attorney-General v Greater Manchester Newspapers Ltd QBD 4-Dec-2001
The defendant newspaper had published facts relating to the whereabouts of two youths protected by injunction against the publication of any information likely to lead to their location. The injunction was not ambiguous or unclear. ‘Likely’ did not . .
Cited – Brown v United Kingdom ECHR 2-Jul-2002
Article 6(2) of the Convention was not violated by a provision which enabled a newspaper proprietor or publisher to escape strict liability under section 4(5) of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1976 only if he proved, on the balance of . .
Cited – Regina v Shayler HL 21-Mar-2002
The defendant had been a member of the security services. On becoming employed, and upon leaving, he had agreed to keep secret those matters disclosed to him. He had broken those agreements and was being prosecuted. He sought a decision that the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Crime, Human Rights, Media
Updated: 20 October 2022; Ref: scu.227055