A judge has thanked a court reporter who found himself providing evidence during a trial he was covering.

Charlie Moloney, pictured, was reporting on the trial of alleged child sex offender Phillip Brookes when he was called as a witness in the case.

Brookes had been filmed on 3 January by a group of paedophile hunters, who accused him of sending sexually explicit messages to one of its members posing as an 11-year-old girl.

Winchester Crown Court heard Hampshire Constabulary had tried to obtain the video, which was viewed 200,000 times in just 24 hours, but it was taken down by Facebook administrators before officers could find it.

But Charlie, who works for Reading-based agency Hyde News & Pictures, had obtained a copy of the video and was able to play it to the jury.

Elisabeth Bussey-Jones, defending, told the jury: “There is a member of the press who is in court at present. He brought it to our attention that he had a copy of the live-streaming video.

“By the time police went to seize that video, it had already been removed from the social media website. However, the press had a copy of that.”

Charlie played the video, which showed one of the paedophile hunters briefly pinning Brookes against a wall before a police officer arrived to arrest him, by connecting his laptop to the court ClickShare system.

Brookes was then cross-examined by both his defending lawyer and the prosecutor about the contents of the video which was displayed by the press.

Addressing Charlie once the video had finished, Judge Susan Evans QC said: “Thank you to the gentleman from the press for that.”

Without the jury present, the judge had accepted an application from the defence to play the video.

Gemma White, prosecuting, told the judge (also without the jury present): “Had the video been available to us as part of the investigation, I probably would have played it as part of the prosecution case.”

Accepting the application, Judge Evans had said: “The press have got it. I think I would be shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.

“If we have got it and there is interest in it, there is nothing to find objectionable about it. I think it might be worth just being up front with the jury as to how we have suddenly got this.”

Brookes, of East Cowles on the Isle of Wight, had denied four charges of attempting to incite a girl under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity with a child and one count of attempting to have sexual communication with a child.

Speaking after proceedings, Charlie said: “Our investigative journalism often uncovers important evidence which even the police cannot find.

“It was a first for me to be submitting evidence in front of a Crown Court jury and then watch it play a role in such a serious trial, but I was glad to be able to assist with the case.

“This is a clear demonstration of how important it is for reporters to be present in courts. Our seats on the press bench are too often empty.”

HTFP reported last year how Charlie had won the Oxford University Press media law award for the best essential media law exam in 2017-18, which was undertaken as part of his National Council for the Training of Journalists diploma.