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Two newspaper editors from the regional press have appeared in court accused of breaking a Section 39 order concerning the identification of a child.

The rare prosecution could set a precedent for journalists reporting court cases involving children, after work colleagues of the child’s mother worked out who he was from the newspapers’ court reports.

Evening Argus editor Simon Bradshaw, and West Sussex County Times editorial director David Briffett, are both accused of publishing articles that contravened acourt order banning identification of a teenage boy who had been expelledfrom school.

Both men denied the charges as their trial got under way.

The cases hinges on a court order concerning Section 39 of the Children and Young Persons Act, 1933, which bans the media from identifying children and young people involved in a case, including their name, address and school, and publishing anything “calculated” to lead to their identification.

Magistrates were told the articles were published last year and accurately reported a High Court case in which the boy successfully challenged his school’s decision to expel him. The High Court imposed a section 39 order.

The articles did not reveal the boy’s name, address or school.

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