In contempt?

"Two principles fundamental to English law are open justice and freedom of the press. The right of the public to know, via the press, who has been charged with what is one of the key features that distinguishes a free society from the sort of tyrannies where those deemed not to be on message politically disappear and are never heard from again.

Equally fundamental, however, is the right to a fair trial, which requires, among other things, that an accused is judged solely according to the evidence before the court, not the fevered imaginings of the more populist elements of the press.

A recent manifestation of that inherent conflict concerned a blog by a well-known political commentator about the Stephen Lawrence murder trial. The blog has been referred to the attorney general for consideration for prosecution for contempt of court.

A recent occasion on which the courts had to consider the same issue, was the case of HM Attorney-General v MGN Ltd and another [2011] All ER (D) 06 (Aug), which arose out of the murder of Joanna Yeats.

Police attention was initially focused on Miss Yeats’s landlord, who was arrested but released without charge. Before suspicion had been lifted however, some elements of the press printed lurid allegations about him. In the event, those mattered not, since the real murderer did not dispute the fact of having killed Miss Yeats. It was held, however, that if the landlord had faced prosecution, he would have been able to raise a serious argument that he could not receive a fair trial because of this adverse publicity. Even though the argument would probably have failed, it would have been properly made and therefore would have incurred tangible costs and delays to the trial process, and a possible ground of appeal..."

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