Two men jailed for child sex offences have been named and shamed thanks to a legal challenge by three regional newspapers.

The Northern Echo, the Evening Gazette in Middlesbrough and the Isle of Wight County Press successfully overturned a ban which had stopped the media from reporting on the case for five months.

50-year-old Major Andrew Shaw of Queen Street, Barnard Castle, County Durham, and 34-year-old Alan Lawson, of South Street, Ventnor, Isle of Wight, were jailed in February for conspiracy to rape and possessing and distributing Internet child porn.

A Section 39 order of the Children and Young Persons Act was imposed by the Recorder of Middlesbrough, Judge Peter Fox QC.

The order was aimed to protect the victims, but also prevented the names of both defendants from being published.

But in a legal challenge in the Court of Appeal this week, lawyers for The Northern Echo, the Evening Gazette in Middlesbrough and the Isle of Wight County Press, successfully argued that a Section 39 order can only be used to protect the identity of any child or young person concerned in proceedings.

Three senior judges sitting in the Court of Appeal in London said the wording of the order went beyond that which was permissible under section 39.

The judges said the leading authority was the case of Godwin in 1992 when Lord Justice Glidewell said: “In our view section 39 as a matter of law does not empower a court to order in terms that the names of defendants be not published.”

Northern Echo editor Peter Barron said: “In making our legal challenge, we did not for a second underestimate the importance of protecting the victims of sexual offences.

“In common with other newspapers, we take great care to avoid identifying juvenile victims of sexual abuse.

“However, we also believe it is imperative to preserve the established freedom newspapers have to expose the identities of the adults who commit these sickening crimes.

“Had the original ruling been upheld, the legal landscape would have been changed. A precedent would have been set giving sex offenders protection which they do not deserve.

“Justice not only has to be done but it has to be seen to be done.”

The legal action cost the papers several thousand pounds, but in a joint statement Echo editor Peter Barron, Alan Sims deputy editor of the Evening Gazette, and Brian Dennis, editor of the County Press, said it was an issue of public interest dangerous paedophiles should be named, rather than being given anonymity by the courts.

Despite the fact that the Section 39 order was wrong, and the Attorney General appeared in court arguing the order should remain in place, the newspapers’ application for costs was dismissed.