A judge has admitted he was wrong to try to impose additional restrictions on the press following a court order prohibiting the identification of child abuse victims.

Paul and Rosemary Hampson, from Berkshire, were convicted of 16 charges relating to child sex and cruelty against a girl and boy earlier this month. Paul Hampson is facing a retrial on two of the outstanding charges in December.

The Reading Evening Post and Newbury Weekly News were before Judge Gordon Risius on Friday for allegedly breaching a section 39 order by reporting details which had been prohibited by an extension of the order, namely by mentioning the town where the Hampsons lived.

But during the hearing the judge admitted he actually had no power to impose the extension to the order in the first place and withdrew it.

The judge had tried to impose an additional restriction banning any reference to the address of the defendants.

The Evening Post and the Weekly News had been unaware of the extension and had inadvertently breached the restrictions in their reports.

Judge Risius said: “The variation I made during the course of the trial was made without jurisdiction. It is my intention to withdraw that aspect of the order.”

He said the order would now consist solely of the standard prohibition of not naming a young persons’ name, age, school or any particulars that could lead to their identification.

He concluded: “I’m a great deal better informed on this area of law and I intend to pass on the benefit of this hearing to the other judges sitting here.”