The Newham Recorder has won the right to name a road accident victim, after a judge banned identification.

A schoolgirl was seriously injured when a car being pursued by police crashed into a brick wall in June.

A reporter and photographer from the paper were quickly on the scene and the Recorder covered the story.

Police did not reveal the girl's identity for several days, but reporter Tracey Mullins managed to find out who she was and speak to her family.

It was then discovered that the girl had been featured in the paper around six months earlier in a story about a reading scheme, and so already had pictures of the accident and of the victim.

During the following months the paper ran features on the girl’s progress, including a centre-page interview with the victim and her family, all of which identified her.

But when the driver of the car which hit the wall was jailed for 22 months for various offences, the paper discovered that a section 39 order had been placed prohibiting it from naming the girl.

Recorder editor Colin Grainger (pictured) contacted Snaresbrook Crown Court and was asked to fax through details of a request to challenge the order and have it lifted.

The judge then asked the paper to attend court and ordered a recall for prosecution and defence legal representatives.

Colin put the paper's case forward and after hearing no objections from the barristers present, the judge decided to lift the naming ban.

The judge agreed that the girl's name was already clearly in the public domain and told the prosecution to note that when they made the request it was clearly not necessary.

Colin said: "The judge accepted our argument, and even apologised that we had had the trouble of coming to court and hoped it had not upset our deadlines.

"I was impressed by what the judge said and thank him for the speed with which he dealt with our application."

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