A judge barred a journalist from court because he did not book his visit in advance.

Charlie Moloney, left, was denied access to Reading County Court after the judge claimed they should have been allowed to verify his credentials beforehand.

Freelance Charlie, who also teaches media law at News Associates, was subsequently told the cases, which were possession hearings, were regarding people’s “personal finance” and are therefore “private”.

He had gone along to the hearings with a view to reporting on how landlords and lenders are dealing with people struggling to pay their rent and mortgages during the cost of living crisis.

Posting on X, Charlie wrote: “Just been barred access to Reading County Court because the judge said I should have got in touch advance to let them know I was coming so they could verify my credentials.

“For those interested, the judge said the cases were regarding people’s ‘personal finance’ which are ‘private’.

“But the judge did not seem to be suggesting these were private hearings, which would have been questionable, but merely that they need to approve people before they can observe.

“I heard nothing from RCC so ultimately I wasn’t able to watch any of the possession cases – meaning a judge decided whether landlords or mortgage lenders could move to evict tenants and homeowners during a cost of living crisis without any press scrutiny.”

Charlie told HTFP: “Given the continuing cost of living crisis, I thought it would be in the public interest to report on how landlords and lenders are dealing with people struggling to pay their rent or mortgage.”

“But an usher informed me the judge was not happy for me to come into court to observe the hearings. The judge had said, I was told, I should have gotten in touch in advance to let the court know I was coming so they could look at my credentials and make a decision on whether to let me in.

“The possession hearings were about peoples ‘personal finance’, I was told, and that meant they were private matters.

“I asked the usher “what about open court?” But they told me, which I entirely accept, they were merely relaying the judge’s comments.

“It appeared to me, having faced these situations before, that the best approach would be to contact the Ministry of Justice Press Office and ask them to intervene on my behalf.

“But I was overly optimistic about how long that would take. I am still waiting for an update. I have also written to the judge to express my concern. I am still waiting for a response.

“The bottom line is that around a dozen possession hearings went ahead without any journalist in to observe them.

“That means banks and private landlords might have persuaded a judge to allow them to move to evict people from their homes during a cost of living crisis, and the public would be none the wiser.”