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Would publication have revealed boys' location?

The Manchester Evening News has been found guilty of contempt of court after writing about the killers of Jamie Bulger.

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But was what was published likely to lead people to identify where the boys were living?

The MEN article had, for the first time, stated the distance between the two secure units. The distance was incorrect for those two units but was roughly accurate for the proximity of each of those units to a third unit.

Neither piece of information was put into the public domain by the press before the January 8 injunction.

Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, president of the Family Division, said in her judgement: “It is obvious from the letter from Greater Manchester Newspapers Ltd’s solicitors of July 2 that the editor and his staff were well aware of the broad thrust of the injunctions and the intentions lying behind them.

“The question is however, whether the publication of the article was likely to lead to the identification of either boy.

“In the evidence of Karen Harrold, on behalf of the Attorney General, she erected a somewhat elaborate edifice whereby someone with the information contained in the MEN article could search the internet and by reference to statistics supplied by the relevant Government department could narrow down and finally identify the whereabouts of each boy.

“I am satisfied that it was unlikely that anyone reading the article would then have undertaken this complicated investigation and that the editor or news editor of MEN could not have been expected to think that such a course was likely or that there was a real chance that it might lead to the identification of the then whereabouts of either boy through the internet.

“The other argument of Mr Caldecott has, in my judgement, much more force.

“He submitted that in the article there was enough information, taken with other information widely known to which I have referred above, to lead anyone with local knowledge or anyone tapping the local knowledge of another to pinpoint where one of the boys was at the time.

“It only required a group of determined people to check on two or three institutions and find one or both of the secure units occupied by the boys at that time.

“The timing of the article, its prominent position in the newspaper, the fact that MEN is a widely read local newspaper with a considerable circulation and the probable release of the boys having caused strong adverse feelings and hostility towards the boys, not only in Merseyside but far more widely, all added to the real possibility that the article might lead to the identification of the whereabouts of either boy.

“The news editor had the local knowledge and the exact information where each boy was placed. He was in a position to be able to assess the degree of risk.

“I am satisfied that the information given in the article provided added information which, taken with other local knowledge, was likely to lead to the identification of the then whereabouts of one or both boys.”

See also:
Communications breakdown caused lapse

Discussion would have made duty clear

Conscientious effort to avoid situation

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